Social media activism is an interesting topic and one that takes me out of my comfort zone. The rise in social media users has dramatically increased the amount of social media activism, but what kind of impact does that have on us as educators and should we be responsible for promoting social media activism.

Can Online Activism Be Meaningful?

I think the first thing to establish here is what does meaningful mean to you? Producing change, and creating awareness are two completely different things to I think it is important to be aware of that. There are many aspects that go into social media activism, some positive and some negative but at the very least being an online activist does spread the word because online you have the ability to reach millions of people. The first video that I have posted does a great job of looking at the meaningfulness of social media activism. They go through the history of activism and how it has changed throughout time and how many view online activism as #slacktivism. They also use the example of the black squares representing Black Lives Matter as being fairly useless but at least you can show your friends that you support the cause. Towards the end of the video it is noted that although social media activism may not create a lot of change (but it does create some), the pros outweigh the cons and it is ultimately meaningful. The video is fairly lengthy but if you have time give it a watch.

Can We Have a Productive Conversation About Social Justice Online.

I really don’t know if there is a yes or no answer to this question. On one hand it can be very easy to have productive conversations because you are preaching to the choir. We have all likely been using social media long enough to understand that our algorithm continually fills our feeds with articles that support our interests. As the previous video points out, unfortunately the internet is not a free space where we can post whatever we want and have it viewed the same as every other comment or video. The social media apps are owned by companies and those companies dictate what we see and why we see it. So it is often that we are being surrounded online by like minded people. On the flip side there is the fear that comes with activism online. A former social media social justice activist says that, social media activism is a scary place. This activists blog talks about the fear of being canceled. The strict rules that online activists feel they need to follow because there are so many activists that are looking to cancel others who step out of line. That can make it very difficult to have productive conversations.

What Is Our Responsibility As Educators?

I might be the cute little black sheep. Social justice is an important part of society but I don’t think that being an activist is the job of educators. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think teachers should be activists period. It means that I don’t think you should HAVE to be an activist. I believe that it is important for students to understand social justice and how you can become part of activism in a positive manner. As educators we should provide the information and some of the opportunities (we can’t control what our divisions allow and don’t allow), and we need to let students make their own decisions. My goal as an educator is to help develop good human beings, people that are respectful, people that help the less fortunate and marginalized, and people that will be positive contributing members of society. I do this by trying to be a good person and just because I don’t model active citizenship online I don’t think that makes me a bad person or a bad role model for my students. The reality is that I don’t spend much time on social media and when I do it is as a break, for entertainment purposes. I support causes in person when I get the opportunity, I don’t avoid these issues, but my online platform (very tiny) is just not a priority for me right now. It might be something that becomes more of a priority but right now my kids are my number one priority and they command a lot of my time and I don’t see that changing anytime sooner, nor do I want it to.

I will leave you with one more short video that highlights many of the things I’ve mentioned including the positives (much more) and negatives to being an online activist.