The Digital Age & Activism: Understanding the Impact of Social Media in Social Movements

The Digital Age & Activism: Understanding the Impact of Social Media in Social Movements University of Chicago Anthropology Research Abstract Riya Kataria (Irvington High School, Grade 12) In this project, I explored the discrepancies and similarities between activists who began before the social media age (defined as before 2010) and those who began their activist work during the social media age (defined as 2010 and beyond). I interviewed five people from each category, all who came from different backgrounds and experiences, and recorded their responses. The overarching question was: How do you believe that the digital age has impacted the activist landscape? Some of the questions that came up over the course of the interview were:

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How many people do you see getting involved in advocacy and activism today versus when you first started your journey? What do you think contributes to that discrepancy in numbers, if any?

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What is the scope of change you see being made today? In what areas or concentrations are these changes made?

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How has the internet, and to a deeper extent, social media affected your work in advocacy? Has it improved it or hurt it?

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What types of people do you most often communicate and collaborate with in your advocacy work? Through what methods have you met and/or collaborated?

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How has the efficacy in advocacy shifted from prior to the social media age to the social media trends today?

Through these topics, I was able to gather a general roadmap of how social media activism rose to the degree it has today, as well as the contrast between the methods, people, and efficacy that social media activism and pre-internet activism. The general consensus showed that while social media has extended the reach, magnitude, and diversity of activist endeavors, pre-social media efforts were found to be more efficient overall.

While activists who began their efforts pre-social media found themselves describing different paths and motivations contributing to their interest in advocacy, activists who began their efforts post-social media (especially those who started their interest in the second Obama term) unanimously contributed their motivations and inspirations to either Twitter, Facebook, or (most commonly), Instagram. Post-social media activists explained that many of them and their peers were exposed to traditionally politically-left ideas through the use of the “story” feature from their friends, or through activism-based accounts, such as ​instagram.com/itsfeminism​, instagram.com/feminist​, ​instagram.com/pinkprotest​, and more.

Pre-social media activists, on the other hand, found different avenues to the same path. Out of the five, one grew up in a politically-charged household and was exposed to political advocacy from a young age; one advocate grew up in a traditionally-conservative household, yet was urged to get involved due to her LGBT identity; one was exposed through friends at school and joined a local group of activists; one was only mildly politically active through different political campaigns, and only truly got involved during the Women’s March; the last one simply joined a group of political advocates in college. The LGBT advocate explained, “There was no real, solid way to get involved… I never saw myself reaching a point where I would, you know, be one of those people on the street. It was all just circumstance.”

In both cases, activists saw their work to be effective, but the other side’s efficacy to be greater than their own. From their personal observations, pre-social media activists saw the scope and reach of social-media activism to be far greater than their own, whereas post-social media activists saw the political efficacy and advocacy efforts of the other side to be far more successful than their own. N.S., a post-social media activist who began his work in 2016 after the elections, explained, “Growing up in a social-media crazed world really does allow you to expand your circle. At the same time though, you have these kids and adults who are all of obsessed with their image, and so they tweet hashtags in support of these movements, but never actually do anything… I think it’s sort of bittersweet, because you have so many people who actually could be doing something, but they just like to sit back and hashtag.” This illustrates a

clear divide that social-media activism has created: the choice between scope and effectiveness.

In general, both sides agree that while post-social media activists have a greater scope and diversity within their movement, pre-social media activists had a greater efficiency. Post-social media activists simultaneously have greater and less diversity within the movement; whereas post-social media activists may have more perspectives in race, gender, class, sexuality, and other categories, all five post-social media activists agreed that certain “cliques” are formed thanks to social media usage. For example, post-social media activists stipulated that, while there is a lot more Asian and LGBT representation within the activist community, through their observations, the primary voices that tend to resound are typically white and African-American voices, effectively creating cliques of these differentiations. Pre-social media activists, on the other hand, may not have had access to as many perspectives, but they did create strong areas of collaboration with those who they could work with.

Nowadays, both pre-social media and post-social media activists agree that more people are getting involved in activism today due to the sheer ease of it. However, they also recognize that post-social media activism is also partially made up of ineffective activism - a practice colloquially known as “slacktivism”, in which one likes, retweets, or posts a simple status in lieu of creating legitimate change through political advocacy and physical activism. This has created a paradigm for new activists, in which they retweet statuses and worship those making actual change (something that is viewed as unattainable for the time being).

Post-social media activism has also created a culture shift in which post-social media activists hyperfocus on the specifics of an issue, rather than the general issue overall. Pre-social media activists explain that, when communication doesn’t come along as easily, it’s nearly impossible to focus on specifics; post-social media activists use the wide variety of research and communication tools to actively dig deeper into the topic at hand. Rather than focus on the gender wage gap (as pre-social media activists might do), post-social media activists may focus

on the racial discrepancy within the gender wage gap. While both post-social media and pre-social media activists generally agreed this was the case, both sides had an even mixture of responses on whether this was a good thing or not.

On the topic of whether social media has improved activist efforts, both sides were fairly divided, with a slight lean towards “yes”. Proponents explained that, yes, while efforts may have become less effective, there is power in numbers. Students are getting more and more civically engaged, causing an uptick in powerful youth activism and advocacy. This sort of organized effort was difficult to mobilize in pre-social media movements, and now that social media has provided an avenue for communication, larger movements are easier to organize. Historically significant events such as the Women’s March have also been mobilized and created through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. A.C., a post-social media activist who began her work at 12 years old by campaigning for Barack Obama’s reelection, said, “Most of the most powerful people and movements I’ve seen now, they’ve all come from the internet. I mean, look at the Women’s March. March For Our Lives. They wouldn’t have been possible without the sort of digital revolution we have today… It really is amazing how much social media has impacted politics.”

Opponents argue that these are exceptions, not rules, and the selective collaboration through the creation of cliques on social media. Instead of relying on social media as a tool to engage students civically, the correct course of action would be to create education curriculums in the classroom. Social media activists are not experts, and they may send the wrong message to students who are just starting their journey to activism. Lastly, opponents argue that social media is a useful tool when it comes to activist communication; they just believe it is not being used to its full extent and potential. R.R., another post-social media activist who began her work with Bernie Sanders, elaborated, “As someone who started off online, I know that it’s powerful. But I’m seeing these kids today who don’t really understand what they’re saying or how their words are impacting politics. I think social media is powerful, but I don’t think it’s always right.”

One common thread regarding the usage of social media activism was the distaste in the forming of activist cliques. The activist landscape, according to both the pre-social media activists and post-social media activists was inclusive before the large rise in social media activism. Yet, as many post-social media activists point out that, especially after the election of President Donald J. Trump in 2016, media attention has shifted to certain activists, creating a tight clique of said activists. The post-social media activists agree that the advocates that media outlets focus on are making strides in their respective fields. However, there is an increasing sense of exclusion that prevents activists from creating sustainable advocacy and political networks. This portrays a shift in activist culture—one that is increasingly focused on far-reaching messages and exposure on social media over sustainable activist and political work.

The general consensus, in the end, was that social media has definitely increased the scope as well as diversity of activist campaigns. However, while scope and size increased, the efficiency as well as inter-collaboration have decreased from the pre-social media age. From the observations of the post-social media activists, any budding activists have started increasingly participating in internet “slacktivism”, but increased numbers do pose for an increased movement. While the bar is ultimately divided on whether social media has helped improve or degrade activist efforts, the consensus reads that while social media and online activism is a valuable tool for starting movements, it’s difficult to retain them.

All activists interviewed chose to have their names omitted