Here's Bob, and here's Jon. They both have heard about the devastated earthquake in Japan and decided to give support to the fallen country. Bob on one hand flew all the way to Japan and became an volunteer on ground zero. On the other hand, he donated supplies to the locals there.
Meanwhile, Jon decided to write a two hundred word paragraph on Facebook about the situation in Japan. Within the paragraph he included how sad he was about the disaster and how hopeful he was for the people of Japan to get back on their feet.
OK. Now, let's break this down. Bob right here is what we called activism. He has dedicated his time and effort to support the Rebuild Japan Project. HERE'S THE KEY: Bob's action changed the situation, where Jon's did not because Jon simply wrote a paragraph online. Although Jon might dedicated some time and effort on his two hundred words paragraph, it would not have done anything other than for people to read it. Jon here, is what we called slacktivism.
The thing is, people who are lurking on the internet are trying to hard to become activism.
#prayforparis and #icebucketchallenge are two enormous social campaign that failed to become activism. Instead they became slacktivism due to oversimplification on the main ideas behind the hash-tags.
Some people who participated in the icebucketchallenge made the video only for their own amusement. Some of the video I saw did not even mention the ALS disease!
Unlike slacktivism, activism happens not online but in real life. As an example the #blacklifematters campaign. The people of this campaign took their word with their action. They marched onto the street with their poster which they had prepared for. They protested peacefully and they got what they wanted.
Activism can make a different in the political or social society because history shows it. Many of the historic revolution are all activism. Slacktivism on the other hand, can turn into activism if only the people start to action in real life.
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