Slacktivism: Your Tweets Of Support Mean Nothing

There’s a trend I always notice on social media and it’s been bugging me. Whenever there’s a sad event or a tragedy, there is always an out pouring of support for the victims of that event. That out pouring of support is manifested with a hashtag. There is always #PrayFor[Insert Tragedy Here].

I am here to say that your support for the victims through your use of that hashtag means nothing.

Zilch.

Nada.

It’s just another example of our false sense of activism on social media.

Everybody wants to just be part of a movement. But realistically, do you really “care” enough? Just typing out a hashtag and posting it online doesn’t really mean anything.

Simply typing out “Pray4Syria” on your Facebook or Twitter page and pressing send doesn’t offer one iota of support for Syria. It’s a tiring trend. Seriously, your “tweets” don’t mean jack to the victims of that tragedy. The only thing your “tweet” or “post” says about you is you want to look like you care.

Yes, I’m telling you that simply posting a hashtag in support of a tragedy is a selfish act if you don’t act upon it.  If you REALLY cared, you would put your phone down, go to the nearest bank, pull out some money and start a fund where you donate all of it to the victims of that tragedy.

An example of that false support of a movement was the kidnapping of those girls in Nigeria by Boko Haram (#BringBackOurGirls) and #Kony movement.

I don’t remember ANYTHING happening in that aspect. Everybody was up in arms, posting Facebook statuses and Twitter updates about how we all need to go get Kony and stop him training child soldiers. After a couple of months, everybody went back to watch reality shows and voting for American Idol.

Using hashtags on social media to promote a cause does bring light to a subject but it often times just becomes a trending topic for a while. Maybe, if those hashtags led to a website where you could contribute money to a cause or a volunteer service, that would be better.

So before you pull out your phone to send a update because you saw a tragedy happen in the Phillipines, think twice. Is sending a tweet with a hashtag #Pray4ThePhillipines REALLY going to help the victims? Or are you just sending that tweet because everyone is doing it?

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Maybe you should actually act on those intentions and we might all be better off.