“Slacktivism” is the ideal type of activism for a lazy generation: why bother with sit-ins and the risk of arrest, police brutality, or torture if one can be as loud campaigning in the virtual space? Given the media’s fixation on all things digital — from blogging to social networking to Twitter — every click of your mouse is almost guaranteed to receive immediate media attention, as long as it’s geared towards the noble causes. That media attention doesn’t always translate into campaign effectiveness is only of secondary importance.


The adherents of “slacktivism” usually point a well-known narrative to justify what they are doing: while it’s true that the dramatic fall in transaction costs of organizing activist campaigns has simply opened up the field to many more participants and issues, there has been no drop in the actual quality and effectiveness of these campaigns. It’s easy to dismiss most criticism of “slacktivism” as simply unproductive: after all, having thousands of people — most of them previously not involved in any activist campaigns at all — suddenly start practicing the kind of click-based “nano-activism” available via Facebook and Twitter could be extremely useful, if only for specific campaigns that would, indeed, benefit from increased public attention.

The brave new world of slacktivism

Notes

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