With many everyday activities beginning online or solely being accessed online, rather than having a small reach to your immediate area, like in decades past, people can have far reaching social change with limitless access to other cities, countries and cultures. In addition, millennials specifically, who grew up with the internet and traveling more than their parents, were encouraged to volunteer and help those less fortunate during their formative school years. This belief has followed millennial and other internet-savvy groups forward into advocating for social change via nontraditional, social media mediums. While being so “plugged in” is often viewed as the downfall of younger generations by their predecessors, when utilized in a positive manner, groups of internet users, young and old, can support social change. I believe that this is positive change in the midst of adapting with technology.
Twitter has become a social media tool for supporting social injustices, such as the #metoo movement. The #metoo movement covered a lot of groundwork in exposing past offenses, often past sexual assaults, of powerful men, ranging from actor Kevin Spacey to Harvey Weinstein. With the help of social media, victims were able to gain a widespread voice and in today’s climate, companies often took immediate action against offenders, especially with large volumes of online voices.
Additionally, social media giant, Facebook, rolled out a safety check-in feature during the Paris attacks. This safety feature remains in place and was applauded for allowing people around the world to notify many friends and family of their safety during disasters. While this is a useful feature for people with family and friends on Facebook, personally, this would not even be a consideration of mine to notify my family and friends. If I had access to my phone, I would simply text or call family and friends or I would access a phone elsewhere. I can see that this is a useful feature for younger people on Facebook, however, to get widespread attention in the event of a mass emergency.
Facebook has also been the center of attention for slacktivism (sharing views on social media without acting). An example of this is Facebook users changing their profile photos to support social movements or disasters. During the Paris Attacks, supporters of the victims signaled that they “Stand with Paris” by changing their Facebook profile photos to the Paris flag. I have also seen this for equal LGBTQ rights where Facebook profile photo backgrounds are changed to the rainbow flag in support of equal rights. However, this movement of online support has received some negative feedback stating that people aren’t truly taking any action to support the groups that their profile photos are boasting. But, if movement events, such as protests and fundraisers, are being advertised and attended via Facebook, then social media has done its part, in my opinion. What percentage of movement supporters take action other than posting online about it?
Although, sometimes online change has been scrutinized as being a part of slacktivism, perhaps volunteering is a good online alternative to connect quicker and participate in actual social change activity, like dosomething.org and volunteermatch.org. Both groups allow users the ability to act for movements of their choice either online or in-person in their area.
As someone who grew up with and without the internet, I applaud the social movements that are occurring online. However, I am also skeptical of having too much of a digital footprint. And, like my personal interaction, I prefer my social engagement to be occurring in person, face-to-face connections.
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