Slacktivism: When You Care Enough to Not Do Anything

So, I figured I'd blow the dust of ye olde bloge with a post about something that's bothered me for a long time. This issue has been finally given a name: Slacktivism. As stated in the title, it's when you think you're doing something for a cause...but not actually doing anything.

The first incidence of slacktivism I ever encountered was the 2008 Presidential Election. I logged onto Facebook and found that my friends had all pledged their status to Obama or McCain. In my opinion, this was a waste of their time and my live feed space. No presidential election has been, nor will one ever be, decided by Facebook statuses. If you don't go out and ACTUALLY vote, well, your status and 4 bucks will get you a cup of Starbucks. Now, there were some instances where my friends used their pages and links to share candidates other than the big two, and that I understand. But, just pledging your status without urging people to go out in vote is a waste.

The next one is the big "Post this in your status if..." and there's some spiel about people needing health care, or showing support for the troops, or something of the like. Again, all for people supporting our troops over seas, but seeing a hashtag of #weloveourtroops or a bunch of their friends with that status might raise morale a little, but donating money for care packages or freakin' silly string will go a lot further towards keeping the men and women stationed there safe. US Senators aren't going to look at their kids' Facebook page and say "Hmm, a lot of her friends are for/against this bill, maybe I should reconsider....Ooh! James found a chicken in Farmville!" The wall of text people told you to copy and paste didn't provide a link to how to write to your local Senators or Congressmen to voice your opinion, just a block of text that someone freaked out when I pasted the Star Wars parody.

If you're going to try and raise awareness about something...make it clear. The bra color/breast cancer awareness was, to me, the biggest flop. I honestly didn't have a clue what was going on till there was an NBC article the next day. People really didn't think that one through, all I know is it's just another reason I'm glad I'm not friends with my mom on Facebook.