Here’s a fun one. The Ice Bucket Challenge, which some labeled as slacktivism, accomplished quite a bit. Here’s the CNN article on some of what was accomplished through the money raised by the Ice Bucket Challenge. To quote the article:
In just eight weeks, $115 million was donated to the ALS Association, 67% of which was dedicated to advancing research for treatments and a cure, the non-profit reports.One million dollars went towards Project MinE, a University of Massachusetts Medical School Project that was able to identify a gene that is responsible for the degenerative disease.
I understand why some people jump on this and similar campaigns as not actually doing anything other than making the individual feel better about themselves. Sometimes for some people, I believe, that can be a valid complaint. Of course, the complaint about “slacktivism” can also just be a way of the complainer trying to feel better about doing absolutely nothing by decrying the small thing that another has done as being useless. I don’t usually hear people who are really doing something about an issue complain about slacktivist.
“What you want to change your profile picture to reflect the issue that I have spent my life working on? Sure, I’m down with that.” Realistically most of the acts and small and rather insignificant. Yet together those small acts can add up to truly magnificent things. Raising awareness. Raising money. Getting people to think about a subject. Those can be great things because often small acts very often help accomplish great things.
In this case the results of many people spreading a small challenge was some research with great findings.
HT my awesome wife, Pamela.