##ivism Or Slacktivism? How Social Media Hurts And Helps Student Activism

People today would be surprised to know that social media has not been around forever. In fact, even more surprising is the realization that people did not really even have or use cell phones almost twenty years ago, and in those days cell phones were only used for calling. We have come a long way. Now, the whole world is in the palm of our hands, or in our cars, or on our wrists. Possibly the greatest thing to come out of this drastic evolution is social media. Social media is where everyone can keep up with family, check in with friends, and share their big time experiences with the rest of the world. However, it has opened up many, many more doors than ever intended, both good and bad. Social media has ironically turned people less social, provided an easy outlet for people to bully and point out insecurities, but also has changed the way we receive important information and news.

As much as social media has managed to ruin our society, it plays a positive role for the public as well. Social media allowed people to use their networks as a form of reaching out to old friends and family across the world. With America being known as the melting pot of the world, our society has several people with family on the other side of the Earth. With social media in effect, this permits people to stay in touch with long lost loved ones and keep ties tight. Not only has it sanctioned friends and family to keep in touches but has granted people to relocate birth parents and unknown family members as well. Yes, social media has failed our society greatly but there is always a rainbow somewhere after a rainy day. Social media can play a positive role by bringing people back together.

In today's time, social media is widely used by most people and most who use it claims that it is beneficial to their everyday lives. Many people argue that social media is bad for others because it is distracting them and causing themselves harm by falling or running into others but that is because they dont pay attention, with the right amount of awareness it is very helpful. For some the only way to stay connected to businesses, familly, friends, and world problems is through places like Facebook and Twitter. Social media is more helpful in more ways than one especially when trying to get communications long distances.

Many people say that social media allows for more people to get involved and join into protests which it is true that it allows the word to be spread quicker to more people, but it also is a very unorganized and unstructured way to try and achieve something through activism. Many of the people who protest don't fully understand what they are fighting for which can hurt the organization's cause and make them seem disjointed and uninformed. In truth social media can be used to help raise funds for organizations that help actually organize protests such as Black Lives Matter but do the people that donate or retweet an organization's message on twitter have the right to call themselves an activist when that word should be used to represent the people who refused to give up their seat and were assaulted and harassed to stand up for what they believed in. I believe that the definition of activism is changing to a much more low risk and laid back definition and I am not sure if it will be able to be fixed. Social media is being used now more than ever with our current president feeding into which is making many Americans view it as a legitimate source of news and almost create an alternate reality of friends, facts and activism. If something is not done soon the word will be smeared for good and the people who sacrificed so much in the civil rights movement will be looked upon with less honor seen as

Digital activism describes activities or practices that are in-depth, which compasses all social and a political practice that use digital networks, and exclusive, where it excludes practices that do not utilize digital networks (Joyce, 2010). This form of activism is an effective platform to reach and inform more people on different issues that the world is experiencing, at a larger scale. With the help of the different social media technologies, numerous uprisings have been successful because of the

Through the use of social media, we can connect with friends and family and be informed of what is currently happening in the world. Social media can have its positives and negatives. Social development can be interrupted because of the media. The use of social media can hinder social development because it causes health issues, makes you feel lonely and causes anxiety.

Starting in mid-July a trend began to take over social media websites such as Facebook and Instagram. All of a sudden one day I wake up and while viewed my feed in Instagram, I noticed people throwing buckets full of ice water over their heads. As the days went by, the people were no longer strangers, but little by little I started noticing co-workers and close friends doing the same. Out of curiosity I began to read the video’s descriptions wondering what this was all about. The descriptions were all full of hash tags that read, #icebucketchallenge, #alsicebucketchallenge, and #strikeoutals. With more research, I discovered that the ice bucket challenge as they called it is done to raise money and awareness

The effects of the internet on modern society have been incredible. There is little knowledge that cannot be found in a relatively short time through a search query. People from all over the world can communicate more easily in real time. Social media gives the average person a potentially endless audience and promotes expression, both artistic and political. There is however, a negative side to social media which creates injustice and gives rise to a mob mentality. As a society we had better start looking at this problem before it is too late.

Social media is tool that combines the term social, which refers to the interactions that people have with each other when sharing and receiving information, and the term media, which refers to the instrument of communication. About 12 years ago was when Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace began started this reign of the social media taking over everyone’s lives. It connects us with the other parts of the world. Throughout this generation and the past ones, many have questioned if social media is the best thing around or if it’s doing bad to us. There are always two sides to everything, one always being the correct one, yet with this topic there isn’t, it just depends perspective on how you perceive it.

Many Americans believe social media is making people waste their time by making us less productive while molding our daily activities as a stumbling block from all the distractions that it gives us. What about our collective life? How are we even going to find out about anyone that requires our help, along with our ways to assist others within that matter? Social media is an essential tool to promote true and lasting social change; because it is easily accessible to everyone worldwide. This is for the reason that is making us all come together, by giving us the ability to stay in contact. Three main points that demonstrate that social media encourages social change are: instigating political change, sharing information not address by the mass media, and communicating online to promote social causes.

As technology develops rapidly in the modern society, the broad social influence it brings is also widely discussed, especially about its effects on social change. In the past, social movements were raised without the help of technology, specifically without social media, whereas social media has recently played a non-ignorable role. The connection between social media and social activisms concerned, here come some different voices. Few people maintain that social media now has no practical influence on social change, while others hold the opposite view, thinking social media is already a crucial factor in it. Personally speaking, I agree with the second kind of view: it is true that social media is not able to create social movements by itself in today’s world, but it plays an important and essential part in making real social change.

While many people put off and ignore the issue of social media and its downfalls, others say that people should think about how our lives are being affected by this advancement in technology, including, lack of human contact and precious time being lost due to consumption with social media. Social media is currently a highly controversial topic in which numerous people have mixed feelings. Society has typically viewed new advancements in technology as beneficial and a sign of success within their country. But, has it solely caused successful outcomes, or are there downfalls to these advancements?

The social media is one of the most common ways of communication and pretty much of knowing anything and everything around the world these days, and it is growing very rapidly. It changes and affects each person in a different way, or ways. Some may argue that social media has a bad influence on children and young adults, and that it negatively effects their brains, character, or personalities, while most people see that the social media has a more positive effect on them than a negative one. Moreover, social media has helped many people around the world to connect, or re-connect, with each other, easily. Social media is basically the new way of keeping in touch with everything and everyone, and of even strengthening bonds between each

“Slacktivism” a term used to define actions performed through the internet regarding little to no actual involvement. With this in mind many believe that social networks encourage people to not be so motivated to go out and do something for a change. Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article called “Small Change: Why The Revolution Won’t Be Tweeted?” discussing the influence that social media has on activism. He begins with expressing the waves of activism in the 1960’s, which is completely different to present time. He expresses modern time movements as the lamest way of activism. However, many others can argue that social media redefines activism. How does social media affect social activism? The ability of social networks by bringing people together should not be underestimated as it changes public awareness, up brings immediate urgency, and creates social connections.

Social media has affected our society in a variety of positive ways. To begin with, some ways social media affects our society in a positive way are it allows for a different way of communication, it can help you stay up to date on sports and news, and it provides entertainment. Social media provides a different way of communication because for example snapchat, where you can use snaps to quickly send a picture or short video to another person, you can call each other via snapchat, and you can text normally as well. This is a positive way social media contributes to society as it is more convenient for people using this and people enjoy it rather than just normal texting and calling. Continuing, social media helps people stay up to date on news and sports because you can download news and sports apps or follow them on instagram or twitter. Social media helping people stay up to date on news and sports contributes to society in a positive way because it is