To the quiet majority
Repost all you want, but social media activism only goes so far
Photo by Ian Sands
Arshita Sunnam, Opinions Editor
Dear Bystanders,
In today’s era of social media, the first thing people do when something major and newsworthy happens is repost it on their stories. The majority of activism currently happens from people’s bedrooms. But, how many of these posts have actually made a change? How many have been impactful enough to have implemented new policies? The answer is very little, if any.
Just as the many generations before us were largely influential to the future of the world, Generation Z is now at the critical point where our actions have the potential to have a major impact on the future. However, very few people are taking action. Due to social media having such a prominent influence on this generation, a majority of Gen Z is aware of the issues happening. They are aware of the inflation crisis, economic disparities, lack of affordable healthcare, and countless other wrongs that can be righted to improve our quality of life. Unfortunately, that is where it stops. Activism is hardly taken further than posts on social media to spread awareness.
With the main source of news being social media for the newer generations, the trend of sensationalism plays an impact on the news delivered to the masses. Evergreen high school in Colorado faced a school shooting around the same time that political commentator Charlie Kirk was assassinated. However, it was hardly featured in the news as most outlets were focused on Charlie Kirk. They were more focused on a story that would create buzz and fuel sensationalism, and in order to do that, they hardly mentioned the school shooting. It was only made aware to the public a few days after the buzz of Charlie Kirk's assasination had died down. The desire to publish a story centered around a topic that would create [sensationalism] overshadowed another tragic event that had happened that day. Even news outlets were more focused on views and likes on social media than actual news. Social media is built on the basis of sensationalism -- how can it be used as an effective platform for activism? Especially if that is as far as it goes.
The Black Lives Matter movement began as a social media hashtag after George Floyd's death in 2020, but it eventually spread into real protests where thousands of people were showing up and advocating for change. Real change was implemented through new, proposed policies that actually solved the issues people were facing. People were only rallied to the cause through social media; the actual protests took place in more tangible forms. When used right, social media can be such a powerful tool. However, in order for social movements to come to fruition, they must go beyond symbolism. Protests can only become policy if enough people take real action.
In Kenya, Nigeria, and other African states, there have been longstanding policies that promoted economic suppression. Increasingly suppressive policies had been imposed upon the people for years. The cost of living had been increasing significantly in recent times, and it finally came to a breaking point. After taxes were proposed on basic necessities, social media campaigns took off. It started with a hashtag, #RejectFinanceBill2024, and resulted in rallies of people that stood against oppression and authoritarianism. They took the attention they got from online campaigns and turned it into protests and policy changes. They were able to achieve all of this from a simple hashtag -- they were able to turn reposts into real action and real results.
Knowledge is power, but what is power if people are not willing to use it? With the pressure of conformity and fitting in from social trends and expectations, it is hard to get the ball rolling on support for policy changes. It is hard for one person to take the initiative. However, if the majority starts going beyond social media, enough people can give it enough momentum to create real, tangible change. There is a lot to learn from these movements about taking protests beyond social media. The first step is to get off of your phone -- real activism takes place in front of government buildings, or in letters to politicians highlighting the specific policies in need of change. The second step is to mobilize enough of the population that a large number of people are incentivized to join, even if it just for the sake of conformity, so the protest feels significant and substantial. Change cannot be achieved by only a few people.
According to a map of all the current protests happening in the country, there are only around 10 protests going on. But what about the hundreds of posts about hundreds of issues circulating social media? If all those posts are meant to be a form of activism, then they should also have real, in-person protests. If they are intended to bring about change, we need to take further steps than simply reposting any newsworthy event we come across. Take inspiration from previous examples of protests and implement those into the present.
