Essay

Slacking for a Cause

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Course
SLACK142

Institution
Columbia College (CC )

As the old West African proverb goes “we have not inherited this land from our forbearers; we have borrowed it from our children.” This wise saying exemplifies the essence of people focusing more on making the world a better place, if nothing else, for the sake of generations to come. Incidenta...

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Uploaded on May 3, 2021
Number of pages 7
Written in 2020/2021
Type Essay
Professor(s) Unknown
Grade A

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Slacking for a Cause

As the old West African proverb goes “we have not inherited this land from our

forbearers; we have borrowed it from our children.” This wise saying exemplifies the essence of

people focusing more on making the world a better place, if nothing else, for the sake of

generations to come. Incidentally, the world is now waking up to the scenario of heightened

social interaction powered by breakthrough in technology that has seen the emergence of social

media platforms. On these platforms are classes of people identified as slacktivists who basically

contribute to various issues by either sharing information already available to the users; they do

this by hitting the ‘like’ or ‘share’ buttons or by retweeting posts. While slacktivism has

benefitted the society through connectivity and meaningful engagement, it has also become a

platform for distortion of information and the creation of false consciousness, which reiterates

the need for people to be more circumspect in what they do behind a computer desk. It is

therefore important that as we progress as a human species so does our understanding of various

dynamics of communication.

By definition, slacktivists are people who use the façade of being resourceful members of

a certain group to make it appear that they have meaningful contributions to the larger agenda.

As Epictetus once said, “We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen twice as much as

, Surname 2

we speak”. These words epitomize the need for people to be more circumspect in diseminating

what they hear, read, or come across casually. Coined from the words ‘slacker’ and activism,

slacktivism refers to the idea of creating a buzz in the name of activism. Presently this has been a

household trend, especially because of the availability of numerous media platforms through

which slacktivists are actively involved. It is now that much easy for internet users to spread tons

of information on popular media outlets available online. Scholars explain that slacktivism

basically entails joining cause-related networking online, sharing information one come across in

numerous websites, and participating in group connectivity for highlighted causes. Some of the

information thus shared is helpful in certain ways like through the creation of civic awareness.

For instance, a joint survey conducted by Ogilvy Worldwide and Georgetown University

indicates that people who pertake in slacktivism are likely to have more meaningful impact in

charitable causes compared to actual ambassadors of the cause (Schlumpf 596). On the other

hand, psychologist expound that most slacktivists are engaged mostly for participant gratification

other than commitment or devotion to the cause in question. Such participation defeats the

essence of activism and has no productivity as it appertains to promoting the cause. The lack of

actual devotion has, in turn, undermined the need for noble activism through passive

participation of slacktivists.

In the current landscape of global interaction, the World Wide Web has significantly

eased the spread of information amongst users through popular social media sites. This

phenomenon has, in turn, created a network of slackers who primarily lurk on these platforms to

perpetuate information through sharing posts on Facebook and Twitter. Considering that most

social media users are usually idle, nobody really takes the time to verify the source of the

information they are getting or the reliability of the facts thus presented. Slacktivism has

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