Get off the couch

I'm annoyed and this is a self-serving, petty post. There's your warning.

I like Facebook. I LOVE that I can interact with old friends and watch their children grow. It's a fun little realm. Increasingly, I am wondering if sites like this prevent real activism. Change my profile pic to join the fight against x cause. Change my status to join the fight against another. How does that help? It's inaction. It's less than lip service. Really. I need someone to explain it to me.

If you want to help a cause, please do something. Anything. Slacktivism is a slap in the face to the people who work hard to make political and social change. Doctors, police officers, social workers, volunteers and real activists (the ones donating real time and effort into causes) - these people are the ones making change. Not my Facebook status on any given day.

Want to support a cause? Find a fundraising campaign. Donate your money, or more importantly, your time. Research. Become educated. Get other people involved.

If you want to use social networking tools to be a nano-activist, try supporting causes that truly benefit from increased public attention.

A jpg of a Power Ranger doesn't change a damn thing in terms of joining a fight against child abuse. Neither does me telling the world my bra colour support breast cancer.

Expend your effort. Get your hands dirty. Raise funds. Volunteer. Get off your couch or stop pretending you are helping.

Sure, I might come off like an asshole here, but I'm an asshole who raises funds and donates to causes I support.