“Slacktivism” is often associated with a zeal for activism on social media platforms, but a lack of effort toward real change. Despite the word’s general negative connotation, senior Nikolai Mather believes that the Internet has “revolutionized the concept of activism.”
“It allows us to access different movements from halfway across the globe,” Mather said. “I wouldn’t know about what was happening with [many movements] if I wasn’t able to access them via Twitter and posts on the Internet.”
Mather considers himself an activist, and frequently attends marches and events dealing with social justice in the area.
“I do queer activism,” Mather said. “I help a lot of groups in the Triangle out with that, I marched in the Queer Pride Parade Sep. 24, we do a lot of projects concerning queer youth, clothing drives for transgender and gender non-conforming youth, helping different homeless shelters, stuff like that.”
Junior Caroline Lougee also considers herself an activist. Due to her concern for environmental issues and animal rights, Lougee recently became a vegetarian, and advises students to take action on issues they care about.
“You can’t change what people post,” Lougee said. “We can start just doing things that we care about. Just do it.”
Lougee separates her views on social issues from what she posts on her social media.
“I don’t really post what I care about,” Lougee said. “If I care about it, I do it, but I don’t push it out to the world because a lot of people who follow me don’t really care about it. Just do it for yourself.”
Social studies teacher and P.R.I.D.E. advisor Melissa Hayden believes that social media has “enlightened” the way we deal with social issues. Although social media can play a positive role in bringing social issues to attention, Hayden warns that students who post passionately about social justice could face backlash.
“If you put yourself out there on your personal social media page for a position on something that’s unpopular, you’re risking isolating yourself and opening yourself up to trolls and things like that, and that can be really damaging to young people who are developing their ideas,” Hayden said. “Part of being a social activist is having confidence in how you feel and what you want to say, and when you’ve got somebody that’s being abrasive against you, it messes with your confidence and how you feel.”
According to sophomore Anisha McFadden, social media can cause users to form strong opinions on issues without looking far enough into what their stance may represent.
“I think that [social media] forms people’s opinions more negatively,” McFadden said. “People are against Donald Trump or against Hillary Clinton, and they don’t actually know why. People are against All Lives Matter but they only know about Black Lives Matter, and they don’t understand why they support the side that they do. I think the drawbacks are that people aren’t actually learning. They’re just seeing and reposting, and retweeting, and liking, and typing, and not actually learning about it and researching it.”
Concerns with the use of internet and activism can be tied back to movements such as Kony 2012 and the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge of 2014, where some participants would show their support solely via social media, while often not being fully educated on the real issues they were supporting.
Alternatively, Hayden believes that a source of slacktivism in high school students could simply be a lack of free time.
“I think sometimes it can be hard to be completely active in things you might support just because of time and constrictions,” Hayden said. “You guys in high school have school work, you have sports, you have outside work, so even though you’re passionate about an idea but you can’t actually give part of your time to the idea, doesn’t make your contribution any less valuable.”
However, according to Mather, the transition from slacktivist to activist is required to accomplish real change.
“Slacktivism does have somewhat of a role; just simply having those opinions and voting for people who have those same opinions as you will help usher in a greater sense of acceptance of one particular idea or movement,” Mather said. “The only way you are able to get that reaction across a wide spectrum is by using activism. No one has been able to get things done by just sitting there and saying, ‘Well, I think this.’ You have to march, you have to get your message out there, you’ve got to get people into politics and know what they’re talking about and support a cause. You can’t just sit there and wait for something to happen.”
McFadden participated in black out day, a protest in which students wore all black in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. She agrees that action needs to be taken beyond the Twitter timeline.
“I think we need more marches,” McFadden said. “[We need to be] actually following through in school and helping raise awareness, like sitting down during the pledge of allegiance, or [holding] peaceful protests where you just sit on the floor or wearing black [in support of the Black Lives Matter movement]. I feel like actually doing something about it could promote people. The day we had black out day at school, I felt like that was a really good way to get people involved.”
So how can the shift from slacktivism to activism be made? Senior Jason Wetterer believes that the solution may be to provide a more accepting space for diverse opinions on social media.
“[It shouldn’t] seem so different or so weird to step out and speak your mind and say, ‘Hey, this isn’t right,’” Wetterer said. “People shouldn’t be afraid to be able to speak their mind, [even if] they have an opinion that’s not agreed with…. There needs to be that one person who’s that leader who likes to bring people out and organize these events to help everybody and to be an activist. The key part to being an activist is actually doing something about it, not just talking about it.”
Mather’s solution sounds counterintuitive: using the Internet.
“I would have never found these organizations… or been able to have the opportunities I have if I did not search on the Internet,” Mather said. “The thing with the activism is that you sort of have to make a commitment to being active rather than just posting about things. You’re going to need to look, and once you find something, you’re going to need to act.”
– By Sara Heilman & Zoe Willard
