Week Five

Last class for prep we read some articles about slacktivism. Up until this past week I have never heard of the term and didn’t know what it was about. Upon reading it I thought it made sense and clarified some questions I had when using change.org. For the last couple of months I have been signing petitions on change.org and felt like well if I can at least help make a change in a small way that I would sign petitions that I thought were important. The more I have been signing them the more I have started to wonder if the people they petition would even care. I thought how easy is it for me to hit a submit button with my information attached and wonder if it even gets anywhere. In reading the articles assigned it helped clarify some of the feelings I was having.  I learnt what I am doing is called slacktivism. I sign for a cause but then don’t do much to follow through or make sure change happens.  I think using change.org has brought to my attention a lot of issues that I didn’t even know was happening. I don’t have a tv and so I don’t hear much about what’s going on in the world, I guess in a way a bit of a newsfeed for me as well.  I often find myself wondering what else can I do to help. I liked in the article that it talked about slacktivism is a good thing in bringing light to different issues but if it only brings to light the issue and doesn’t do much than that, then it can be ineffective. I have noticed in some of the petitions I’ve signed with change.org they give instructions on how to go further than just signing. I find this helpful. I think a lot of why people don’t take it further it because they don’t what to do next. I’ve been thinking how can we take it further than just signing something. I think when they give out the information of who to contact and what to say teaches us how to be advocates in our causes, how to contact an authority and I think shows the representative that you mean business.  I think that kind of guidance is needed and can help us take a more active role in supporting our beliefes.