How Activism is Becoming More Accessible to Youth
The Cambridge Dictionary defines activism as “the use of direct and noticeable action to achieve a result, usually a political or social one.” But beyond definitions, there exists a necessity to understand context. Taking into consideration the current state of the modern world: wars that plague countries, economic inequalities that devastate lives, corruption that makes governments untrustworthy, among others, the necessity of advocacy has never been more prominent.
For us, we’re lucky enough to where Activism is no longer a difficulty, but rather an opportunity.
Today, you can access movements and online protests right from your phone. Further, in person activism exists as well: marches, demonstrations, and rallies are common examples.
However, as activism has now transcended that of the physical sphere and instead moved online, Social media has now become a popular medium for the demonstration of one’s opinions on t injustices and societal issues. The Black Lives Matter movement, for example, set the precedent with the hashtag #blacklivesmatter on Twitter in 2013. Similarly, Occupy Wall Street, a movement which “aims to fight back against the 1% of people that are writing the rules of an unfair global economy,” relied on Google Groups to organize.
It’s become clear that as our modern society transitions to new mediums, advocacy has shifted with us to become more accessible.
The importance of social media, however, goes beyond direct protests online; it also presents the opportunity for advertisement of protests. Maryville University notes that social media can be used to plan and promote events such as protests: “The ability to reach a larger audience by sharing information empowers communities to organize in the real world around a cause.” In a world where unity is clearly lacking and collective action seems almost impossible, social media can be a forum for amalgamation.
The reason why this is so important, however, is because of the currently shifting landscape that is starting to rely more and more on online presence. In a report conducted by the Pew Research Center, 95 percent of teens noted their usage of YouTube, 67 percent of TikTok and 62 percent of Instagram. With increasing numbers of social media users, movements can now reach larger audiences, some even being led by empowered teens: Fridays For Future is one example. A youth-led global climate strike movement which began in 2018,15 year old Greta Thunberg started a school strike for climate change. Creating the hashtag #FridaysForFuture with other school strikers led to the movement reaching worldwide recognition and media coverage.
These examples make one thing clear: it doesn’t take a specific age, degree, or profession to be able to advocate for what you believe in. . There are lots of intimidating aspects to activism that present an understandable obstacle to activism, but it doesn’t hurt to try. Now more than ever, it is important to be heard. With societal issues being left unsolved by older generations, it has now become imperative for younger generations to have a seat at the table on modern issues.
A future that lacks the voices of its people is no future at all.
Sources:
https://fridaysforfuture.org/what-we-do/who-we-are/
http://occupywallst.org/about/
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/
https://online.maryville.edu/blog/a-guide-to-social-media-activism/
