Perspective

The shift happens almost instantly. When a headline drops and within minutes, social media stops being social. Suddenly, selfies and the highlight reels of people’s lives are buried under bold-font infographics, urgent captions and similar posts copied and pasted across everyone’s story.

It’s like you can see the moment your timeline turns political. It feels like if you’re not reposting, you’re silent, and if you are reposting, you’re part of something bigger.

For a while, it feels powerful, and important. As if we’re all paying attention at the same time. But then a week passes, and the posts slow down. The algorithm moves on, and so do we.

That’s why social media activism gets called “slacktivism,” and can be seen as “overhyped.” It can look like we’re confusing posting with actually doing something. An article from Muse Magazine talks about how Instagram story activism can blur the line between awareness and performance.

Stories disappear after 24 hours and reposting something takes two seconds. It’s easy to wonder whether people share posts because they care, or because they’re worried about what others will think. These days, silence can mean complicity.

Many people feel tension when it comes to posting on social media. According to a 2023 report from the Pew Research Center, social media can distract from important issues or make people think they’re making a difference when they’re not. There’s a difference between liking a post and actually showing up somewhere to protest and push for change.

However, people can go too far. The Pew report found that nearly half of social media users say they’ve done at least one activism-related activity online, whether that’s sharing information, joining a group or encouraging others to take action. Sadly, that doesn’t seem like a lot. For a generation that gets most of its information from a news feed, awareness begins online. Before someone attends a protest, signs up to volunteer or donates money, they see an alert on social media.

On college campuses, social media is the universal bulletin board. It’s how events spread, how students call out issues and how conversations start. Even if someone only reposts once, that repost might reach someone who didn’t know about the issue. Awareness doesn’t solve everything, but it matters.

Posting a hashtag is not the same as real-world activism. It shouldn’t replace organizing, voting or having hard conversations. But, it is not fair to dismiss it as meaningless. Social media activism can be shallow, and sometimes it is. At the same time, it gives people a low barrier to entry. It allows voices that might not be amplified by traditional media to be heard. It spreads information faster than any flyer ever could.

Maybe the problem isn’t that social media activism exists. Maybe the problem is that we expect it to be the whole movement instead of just the starting point.