The True Role of Internet Activism
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was brutally murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin after allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill to make a purchase. Floyd’s tragic death is a fresh, deep wound for American race relations and a telling example of the deplorable racial injustice and shocking racial violence still deeply ingrained in our nation. This heinous crime — compounded by the equally horrifying killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor — has sparked an uproar across the world, with many taking to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to voice their outrage. In the crosshairs is America’s inherently prejudiced and discriminatory police system, a system which routinely slays the citizens it promises to protect and serve with little or no consequences and with absolutely no remorse. The social media arm of the response culminated in Blackout Tuesday, an event in which people posted a solid black square to their accounts to show their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Scrolling through Instagram on that fateful Tuesday, I began to reflect on social media’s role in promoting activism and whether my peers were utilizing this potentially game-changing technological gift in a productive and effective manner. I began to ponder social media’s importance to modern activism in general, even outside activism for racial equality. To better examine how my generation, Generation Z, can use social media to support activist causes, I reached out to three people within my generation who have already used their social media platforms to take real and substantial action.
I interviewed Ethan Lake (@ethan_4lo), founder of the Brad Van Scriver Foundation (@bradvanscriverfoundation), a nonprofit organization dedicated to cleaning up beaches in Orange County, California; Max Sundue (@maxfoo2), who volunteers for Creature Friend Finder (@creaturefind), a website which finds people arrested during Black Lives Matter protests in New York City and connects them with bail advocacy organizations; and Olivia Monarch (@oliviamonarch), an activist who organizes and advertises Black Lives Matter protests in Massachusetts. Each of them has used social media to promote activism, with Lake using it to alert friends and others to upcoming beach cleanups and Monarch using it to notify people of times and locations of upcoming protests, as well as what materials to bring. I proceeded to ask them the following questions:
Ecocentric: Do you feel social media has benefitted activism? If yes, how so?
Lake: “Yes, I believe social media has benefited activism. Even with the setbacks it causes, social media has allowed me to create a page to serve as a hub for my events to spread. Being that beach cleanups tend to be a word-of-mouth type of gathering, these pages allow me to quickly reach a larger demographic and to add organization to what, at times, can be chaotic, organizing and managing people that is. Social media has additionally allowed me to spread my message to a larger demographic and to attempt to attract more people.”
Sundue: “Yes. It helps to get the word across fast and simple.”
Monarch: “Yes. Now it is cool to participate in activist protests and events because you see people doing it everywhere. In the past, you were seen as an outcast if you participated. This results in way fewer bystanders.”
Ecocentric: Do you feel that social media has hindered activism in any way? If yes, how so?
Lake: “Yes, I believe social media has definitely hindered activism as it allows for a rise in ‘armchair supporters,’ in other words, fake supporters who gum up the system and, in my case, ‘support’ my cause, but never show up in person and never provide anything substantial to the operation. It is also, admittedly, difficult to attempt to make myself present in any form of media. With there being so many accounts and so many voices, I find that mine and many other non-funded voices can fall by the wayside and, for one reason or another, never seem to enter the ‘mainstream.’”
Sundue: “It can take away from the cause. Reposting something doesn’t take much effort at all, to be honest.”
Monarch: “I have not seen social media hinder activism, because it connects like-minded people who are fighting for the same cause. That’s not to say there aren’t any negative effects. I just have not experienced them.”
Ecocentric: Has social media made our generation more politically active, or more politically apathetic?
Lake: “I personally believe that it has made our generation less politically active, from what I have experienced. When people can hide behind a screen and lie without repercussions it causes apathy in support; no-shows, fake supporters, etc. Additionally, I believe that it causes apathy in the way of too many voices and sources and people simply become overwhelmed, and out of this a feeling of apathy develops.”
Sundue: “As I said before, social media can take away from the cause with people utilizing fake activism for clout and whatnot.”
Monarch: “Social media has made our generation way more politically active. Now, people can spread the word about their causes to everyone, and more people can join in. Yes, there is bullying because more people know what each person is doing, but it contributes to the action. Negative attention is still attention.”
Ecocentric: What can our generation do to effectively further activism through social media?
Lake: “We must become more educated on the trends we follow in social media and all aspects of them before following them, and people must become more conscious of the issues that surround them and what they can do to support them, small or large.”
Sundue: “We can utilize social media for good and not bad, to get the word out about various causes.”
Monarch: “Our generation can break down any stigmas about activism. For example, in some communities, if you attend pride marches and stand up for lgbtqia+ rights, you are seen as gay. This is wrong for so many reasons, but I won’t get into that. People should be able to stand for what they believe in without getting hate from their peers.”
Ecocentric: What would you say to armchair activists who simply share posts and videos and do nothing else?
Lake: “To those people I would say: you are not accomplishing anything. Actions speak louder than words in every instance. If you are truly outraged by something, get off of the couch and start researching your issue and what you can do to help or change. It’s what I did, and it works through and through. Change starts with the individual.”
Sundue: “If you’re not gonna be of help, don’t get involved.”
Monarch: “Silence is violence. What if you were killed? Would you want someone to just share a post about you and go on with their day? No! You’d want them to help prevent people from getting killed the same way you did.”
Ecocentric: What would you say to people who want to help, but don’t know how?
Lake: “Just do a little bit of research into the subject of your interest. In my case, for people looking to support me, it is extremely simple. Come to my cleanups, which are announced on my foundation page on Instagram, and if you cannot come due to times or dates, just talk to me! I’d be more than happy to move the date around to accommodate. In a larger sense, just look into the subject and look into small and local ways you can make a change. Additionally, and most importantly, listen to your inner voice and find the work that suits you. If something seems too complicated, it may be the wrong field.”
Sundue: “Communicate with people over DMs, email, and ask! We’re always super supportive.”
Monarch: “There is SO much around you! Ask friends, look up events on Facebook, watch the news, etc. If you look for opportunities, they will arise.”
Though the responses from these three activists clearly diverge, there exists one constant message between them: real, decisive action is always necessary to further an activist cause. Social media is an essential tool for communication (it allowed me to conduct these interviews in the first place), but it is simply that: a tool, not a solution. Far too often, young adults who want to display support for activist causes will just share posts that offer nothing to actually progress a movement; they will post something to clear their conscience and then forget about it soon after. This “armchair activism” should not be normalized. However, this is not to say that social media should be viewed as a complete detriment to activism. The increased visibility to activist causes that social media inevitably brings is essential to our modern political landscape. People must use their social media platforms to share posts of substance and importance to activist causes, such as posts advertising petitions, protests, educational materials, or other events. All three of the dedicated young activists I spoke to have found a way to make the most out of a technological development with unlimited potential, and our generation must follow their example. It is important for young people of all backgrounds to use social media as a means of politicizing themselves in a manner similar to that which Monarch has observed, rather than allow it to desensitize themselves to current affairs, as Lake and Sundue have unfortunately seen in those around them. Naturally, there is great political apathy among our generation, as with every generation, but for every person who says they “don’t care about politics,” there are many more who are willing to take action when they see injustice in this country. Social media must be used to reach people who are willing to stand up for what is right, people who are willing to sacrifice their time and safety for something larger than themselves, and people who may not ever hear about such causes without it. It can shine a spotlight on issues that matter, and without that spotlight, the policemen responsible for George Floyd’s death may never have been charged. Our current fight is far from over, however. This spotlight must continue to illuminate injustice wherever it appears, and so long as our generation continues to produce people as determined, passionate, and socially conscious as Ethan Lake, Max Sundue, and Olivia Monarch, it will never go out.
