slacktivism, thy name is you
the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has now raised over $100m in donations, which represents a 3500% increase from this time last year (a mere $2.8m). that's a fairly impressive impact for internet slacktivism as its being categorized. there's no shortage of people pointing out that many participating in the challenge aren't actually making donations but merely using the 'stunt' as a ploy for gathering more likes, shares, and favorites across social media.
instead of taking to social media to troll comments on youtube videos, facebook pages, or harass twitter and google+ accounts, perhaps more people should embrace the activism they're looking for. here are a couple of suggestions:
- ALS association. why not cover the cost of those folks who aren't donating by making a donation yourself
- charity: water. if you're complaining that people partaking in the challenge are wasting clean drinking water, you can do something about that too
- acumen fund. or you can help underdeveloped nations in general to fight poverty so that they can become more self sufficient and find their own solutions to local issues
- carbon fund. if it irks you that the ice bucket challenge is wasting water while california is in a drought, take some steps of your own to help reduce your carbon footprint and stem the affects of global climate change, then go learn about how the water cycle works
- alex's lemonade stand or penn state dance marathon or child's play. if you're one of the people who have been complaining that ALS "doesn't affect enough people" and that there are "worse diseases" which could use the funding, help stamp out childhood cancer and then learn a little bit about empathy
instead of complaining about all the things you don't like about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, why not do something in addition to or, better yet, instead of your trolling?
slacktivism, thy name is you.