Avoiding Slacktivism

In 2012, Seth Meyers said something profound when discussing the role of social media in activism, “Look, if you make a Facebook page we will “like” it—it’s the least we can do. But it’s also the most we can do.”  This attitude in recent years has been coined as “slacktivism.”  In the fall of 2013, Kirk Kristofferson and Katherine White published a study on the affects of social obersvability and prosocial action.  They describe “slacktivism” in this way, “willingness to perform a relatively costless, token display of support for a social cause, with an accompanying lack of willingness to devote significant effort to enact meaningful change.”

The Onion has been quick to weigh in on the matter, and it’s something that I often catch my Evangelical friends doing when they return from mission trips,  “As soon as I walked into that dusty, remote town and the smiling children started coming up to me, I just knew my Facebook profile photo would change forever…” Okay, if you’re not laughing, you should be.  My point here is not to make fun of Evangelicals or anyone who goes on mission trips, rather my purpose is to show that “slacktivism” is not limited to those on the Left and ultimately it’s inability to provide real change.

We can all remember Kony 2012, that sought to make Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army known for their abduction and militarization of children in Central Africa.  Dr. Benjamin Bratton describes the movement this way, “Evangelical surfer bro goes to help kids in Africa. He makes a campy video explaining genocide to the cast of Glee. The world finds his public epiphany to be shallow to the point of self-delusion. The complex geopolitics of central Africa are left undisturbed. Kony’s still there. The end.”  And Bratton is correct; nothing has changed.

Now, to be clear, I am not advocating for avoiding political dialogue via social media. I am, however, advocating for limiting it.  I feel compelled to say this amidst the recent Burwell v. Hobby Lobby ruling, the military conflict in Israel, and the ongoing instability in Ukraine.  Let’s spend more time researching, reading, volunteering, and praying than facebooking or tweeting about social causes. I find the deaths and turmoil in the Middle East to be very troubling.  Civilians are dying, Hamas is firing rockets into Israel, Christians are being purged from Mosul and Mass has been halted after being celebrated for over 1,600 years in the city.  Facebook arguments and the changing of profile pictures will not solve these terrible events. So this is the time to dust off your Book of Common Prayer or pick up your rosary and spend time in prayer and meditation.