Social media, without a doubt, can incite real and powerful change. From starting revolutionary democratic movements around the world to educating people about real issues, the past few years have been testaments to the power of websites like Twitter and Facebook. However, the number of causes invading our news feeds is becoming exhausting, as people share, like, and comment on content that makes them feel as if their clicks are actually contributing to some greater change. This trend has given rise to the term “slacktivism,” which refers to the lazy, noncommittal attempts at social activism. Here are a few recent trends to not waste your time with:
“If this picture gets 1 million likes/shares/comments, this baby can receive a necessary life-saving surgery!” If you’re an active participant on Facebook, it’s nearly impossible to escape seeing one of these posts. Spoiler alert: None of these campaigns work. Unless the post provides a link to a reputable charity where you can donate money to support the cause, your sympathy “like” is unfortunately not going to have any affect on any child’s life. If you feel passionate about a cause, the way to help would be to donate to the charity yourself. But, before you donate your hard-earned cash, please take the extra couple minutes to verify the charity for its validity and efficiency on websites like Charity Navigator. This allows you to see how much of your money actually ends up helping the individuals in need instead of going straight to administrative costs.
2014 “Breast Cancer Awareness Facebook Game” The “game” worked like this: If you “liked” or commented on a friend’s ridiculous status update, they would send you a message asking you to choose from a list of equally ridiculous status updates to post. Aside from the pointlessness of this whole exercise, the majority of the fake status update options were incredibly offensive. For example, “Just used my boobs to get out of a speeding ticket.” Because women aren’t accused enough of using sex appeal to seduce men into wrongdoing, right? Another was “I really don’t know how 2 tell anyone and I’m sick of hiding it — I’m gay,” which trivializes a struggle many homosexuals face when coming out to a world that can unfortunately be hostile. These were just two of the 14 options you were supposedly “required” to post to spread breast cancer awareness. Spare your friends and family the annoyance by not participating.
Bra color status updates Also apparently for breast cancer awareness, many teens and women posted a one-word status update of the color of bra they were currently wearing. Seeing the word “purple” on the timeline of my friend from middle school who I haven’t spoken to in five years totally inspired me to rush to the doctor’s office for a mammogram that very instant.
#CockInASock The #CockInASock campaign quickly evolved into an excuse for men to post nude pictures on Instagram under the guise of “spreading awareness of male testicular cancer.” It became such a prevalent trend that Instagram even temporarily blocked all pictures with that particular hashtag because of the material flooding everyone’s feed. However, it eventually lifted the ban. If guys feel compelled to post nude pictures on social media, that’s their decision. But the connection between this trend and cancer research and treatment is still unclear to the rest of us.
“No-makeup” selfies On one hand, the #NoMakeup trend, can be incredibly empowering for women. It allows us to unapologetically post a picture of our bare face and experiment with lighting and angles that make us feel most confident. But here’s where the trend fails. First, it’s blatantly lying about the fact that you actually have makeup on. Plus, it’s equating your moment of celebration in your natural beauty to the struggle of cancer survivors in some kind of roundabout way of spreading cancer awareness. Let’s keep the #NoMakeup trend separate from cancer awareness in respect of the cancer patients please.
Although these trends are definitely started with good intentions, there are so many alternative, more effective ways to incite real change and awareness than hastily “liking” a spam post on Facebook. Social media is a great platform to have your voice heard but, like any outlet of expression, needs to be used responsibly.
Photo Credits:www.sheknows.comwww.wp.wpi.eduwww.techcrunch.netwww.vitafavo.com