I learned a new word today: slactivism, the search for the ultimate feel-good that derives from having come to society’s rescue without actually getting one’s hands dirty, volunteering any of one’s time, or opening one’s wallet. Slacktivism comes in many forms, but its defining characteristic is its central theme of doing good with little or no effort on the part of the person inspired to participate, through the mechanisms of forwarding, exhorting, collecting, or e-signing. (credit: Snopes.com)
This is exactly the reason the whole ‘let’s change our Facebook profile photos to cartoon characters!’ meme has been driving me crazy this past week.
I’ll cut some slack to those who used a shot of their favorite ‘toon just for the sake of expressing their love for their favorite ‘toon. But the whole notion that doing so would in some way help fight child abuse is preposterous, and I don’t care if I sound like a jerk for saying so. It’s almost as preposterous as the rumor going around today that the whole effort was started by a group of pedophiles.
Raise your hand if you were not aware that child abuse exists … or that there might be organizations that work toward eliminating child abuse.
Changing one’s profile photo does nothing to fight child abuse, nor is it going to make anyone any more aware that it exists. It is slacktivism. You know what can help? Being vigilant for signs of child abuse, calling out cases of child abuse and volunteering or donating money to organizations who are working to end child abuse. Those are real actions.
But wait, you say. What about the Modern Love Machine’s Movember stunt? I was Ok with that for two reasons: 1. Prostate cancer often gets overshadowed by talk about other kinds of cancer, you know like breast cancer? It could use some extra awareness as I’m sure there are people who are female or have never had a prostate exam that don’t much think about the possibilities of prostate cancer affecting their lives and 2. The MLM put his money where his mustachioed mouth was through a donation, so it wasn’t an empty gesture.
If you’re serious about fighting against child abuse but don’t know what to do, Childhelp.org is a good place to get started. Preventchildabuse.org is another place to check out. The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services has a lot of useful information.
I know there will be more Facebook ‘awareness’ campaigns in the great tradition of making your status update your bra color for breast cancer awareness or the cartoon character profile pic bit. When they come along, let’s all fight against the urge to be slacktivists and be activists instead.
Oh, thank you for saying so. I have felt the SAME way, but couldn’t QUITE put it into words without pissing everyone off in my friends list. 🙂
AMEN! If everyone put their money (even $5) where their Garfield pic is, imagine how that may actually help!
AMEN. I almost didn’t post all weekend because I was afraid that people would think I was pro-child abuse becasue I’m anti-changing my profile pic. Last year, I actually lost a friendship that started with a disagreement about cause-related marketing, and how a chain bookstore’s holiday campaign did more to improve the bottom line of the chain bookstore than to actually help anyone in the community.
PS – Although it’s too bad about the friendship, I’m still right about that.
I don’t think the majority of people who changed their profile pictures thought that this would solve child abuse. I say majority because I am sure their are some people out there that feel that they have done all they need to do, but it raises awareness of the problem. Even people, such as yourself, who found the whole thing to be ludicrous are now aware of the issue. And by aware I mean of course that it is in the forefront of their minds or at the very least floating in the mind somewhere around the forefront.
I applaud your efforts to increase awareness of this idea of “slacktivism” which I agree is an issue and a bothersome one at that,but don’t be fooled into thinking that posting a few links to child abuse hotlines is some huge call to action.
I just fail to see the difference between people sitting around changing their profile pictures and people sitting around complaining about it.
Thanks for your comment, Kat, but with all do respect — I’m not complaining about the photos themselves. I’m just urging anyone who really cares enough to promote their profile photos as an effort to raise awareness about child abuse — or any other cause promoted on Facebook — to put their money or time where their mouths are. Merely thinking about the issue or having it on the forefront of their minds won’t solve anything. It’s action that’s needed.
And you falsely assume that I personally haven’t done more for the cause than post a few links or complain. I have, but I wasn’t seeking credit or congratulations for what I’ve done, which is why I didn’t mention it.
You are absolutely right I did make that assumption and that was completely wrong of me. I’m very sorry I did that. My guess is that there are people on both sides of this of this discussion who have made assumptions of the other. Unfortunately, thats usually how these things work.
I’m not really on one side or the other. I understand both sides and see the pros and cons in them.
Just voicing my frustrations about the hypocrisy (not necessarily on your part, since you actually have a valid point in regards to the slacktivism) I have seen all over the web about this topic.
A few months ago there was some other “awareness” thing going on on FB. I don’t remember what FBers were supporting (or opposing) but I remember putting on my status “watching bandwagons full of people trot on by.”
What I find interesting is how so many people just conform. And it makes me believe FB was created by sociologists to study us wee folk.
Wholeheartedly agree with this. Awareness is a wonderful thing but these ridiculous FB updates/statuses are a waste of time and smack of not being bothered to actually get involved
Oh yes indeed. I almost changed my profile picture to Jem (because I am truly, truly, truly outrageous) but decided not to because I don’t want to be part of an empty gesture. I’ll go make a donation toward child abuse prevention instead of jumping on a bandwagon that has nothing to do with this very serious issue. If FB people want to change their pictures to cartoon characters, fine by me — but don’t pretend it’s something more than it is.
You are totally right about the Facebook profile picture thing. I get why people do it and they want to contribute but we need to be realistic. That’s not ACTUALLY going to help. But I guess, every little bit helps.
So this is the stuff I miss by avoiding FB? I think certainly the internet can indulge people who are happy with merely thinking they are helping a cause, but it also makes it easier in a lot of ways for those same people to actually do something, like those who may click the links you posted and actually act.
I very much hope you’re right about that.