Slacktivism

This week's reading by Madison and Klang focused on refuting the myth of slacktivism's negative effects. The authors addressed common myths associated with the idea that digital activism is lazy, ineffective, and/or narcissistic, while questioning why those myths are prevalent in the first place. A major theme was the idea that digital activism takes many forms and can be just as effective as face to face activism. One example they gave was when digital activists checked in to Standing Rock in order to confuse law enforcement that was tracking activist movement. This week, the environmental justice movement provided two examples of effective digital activism.

First, a lot of environmental justice accounts distributed messaging urging voters in their area to pay attention to various EJ voter issues on upcoming ballots. This information was shared digitally, but it connected the issues to real-life action (voting), which is a concrete and effective activist tool.

Second, there was a digital response to the approaching UN climate summit that used digital activism to center marginalized voices. A virtual summit, People's COP27, was held on November 1st, days before the UN climate summit began. This digital summit allowed frontline communities and under-resourced areas the space and exposure to bring the climate concerns they view in their everyday lives to the changemakers who would be attending the UN climate summit.

Although these actions were digital and low-effort for some, they can't be held in the same esteem as an individual adding an activist filter to their profile picture, proving Madison and Klang's claims.