With great connectivity and access to the internet, comes easy access to information within fingertips, and with that, the constant need to stay up-to-date. Like many others, my day starts with scrolling through various Instagram and Twitter feeds. The prevalence of social media accounts which re-narrate stories in a more accessible fashion has risen over the years, providing more visibility to current affairs. If not that, the various memes that flood each of our accounts is hard to miss too, and with that the story behind it. With increased accessibility and a platform with universal outreach, everyone has a voice and participation in the global hub. As a result, there is a constant need to be aware and cognizant of contemporary events.
The last few months has seen a lot happening and has given rise to many demonstrations and protests over different causes. Combined with many spending more time on social media because of being stuck at home due to lockdown, debates and difficult conversations have been sparked over these issues. It is also indeed refreshing to see a collective voice speaking up against injustices. A welcome trend that has caught up recently is to challenge others on social media and to post to raise awareness at the same time. The most recent ones being many posting black squares on Facebook/Instagram as solidarity for the BLM movement. A few months later, many women posted black and white photos of themselves to stand in solidarity with Turkish women for their struggles against femicide.
Standing in solidarity often adds weight to the cause. However, often, many challenges that originate on social media end up losing their meaning as it goes through various cycles of nominations and after a while becomes more performative than spreading a message. Although, it is an effective way to raise awareness about other less covered issues and an excellent mode to donate and put in a word about other organisations and NGOs to support others in need, the most recent instance of Red Cross being active to aid those affected in the Beirut explosion; it is essential to be actively vigilant in steering clear from armchair activism.
Although it is necessary to support these movements as we shape the society we live in, and therefore may seem obligatory to speak up and form an opinion, it is however sometimes okay to take some time off from the myriad of information that we come across on a daily basis. It is amazingly easy to get caught up, and is thus necessary to take some time off and close some of the tabs that we care about for a short period of time; before coming back to it, for the sake of our own sanity.