Black lives matter.
Support Ukraine.
#Me Too.
ACAB.
Free Palestine.
Gay rights are human rights.
All of these causes have had their moment, their 15 seconds of fame.
Does that mean there was any resolution though? Was there any closure, or actually solvency?
In today’s society of short form content constantly rushing at you, urging you to be civically active. While being an active member of society who has their own values and causes that you like to support is not only OK, but encouraged, in this day and age it can become quite convoluted.
Issues are constantly being thrown at you at a rapid fire pace and if you don’t automatically hop on the bandwagon, you are shamed.
This is not to say that civic causes have not benefited greatly from social media, simply that they often have a short lifespan. They tend to get more traction, funding, and overall support from the public but only for a limited amount of time.
Take the example of BLM. Black Lives Matter, or BLM as it is known on social media, was a movement that revolved around the violence that the black community was facing in the US from the public, but more specifically from the police. It was widely popularized during the pandemic years of 2020-2022.
Social media helped BLM build connections, mobilize participants and tangible resources, and gain funding. But where has the movement gone?
While many protests and fundraising that occurred during this time were a huge help, once influencers and celebrities decided that they were bored of it the world moved on.
Police brutality still happens, along with other forms of racism that still exist in our country. Almost nobody who called themselves an “ally” during the peak of the movement will be seen posting, talking, or even thinking about the BLM movement and the harms that are still actively going on. This is just one example of how short lived our attention spans are, partly due to social media.
Fifty years ago, the fact that there were not one, but two wars going on would be unfathomable, yet in today’s day and age we simply make one post, like a picture, and never think about it again.
The war in Ukraine is still waging and people are dying. Palestine and Israel are still bombing innocent citizens every day. We have had not one, not two, but three devastating hurricanes in the last two years. Our country is more divided than ever, and domestic terrorism is rising at a terrifying rate. Yet every day, despite this, we continue about our everyday tasks, content in the fact we commented something kind, put a hashtag in our bio’s, and bought a pin.
Support is never bad, and no matter the intention it is beneficial. I am not claiming that support is wrong. I am simply trying to put in perspective how these phenomenons and movements are causing real people real harm.
Moving forward with life is necessary and we can’t constantly drown ourselves in the misery of the world, but forgetting about very serious issues the moment they stop showing up on our FYPs is just as bad as never knowing about them.
Movements are not for our entertainment, and support is not necessary only for our conscience.
As our world changes the way news travels will change too, but we need to bridge the disconnect between social media and real life, otherwise nothing will ever be accomplished and our world will stay stuck in a cycle of never resolved conflict.
