I <3 Social Media. Sort of.

I'm a fan of social media. I have an account on basically all of the major social media sites-- facebook, tumblr, twitter, instagram....It's a bit embarrassing. So when the KONY 2012 movement started happening, I was bombarded by it in all these different places. At first it was fascinating. It was interesting to see how quickly that video was spreading. The monday before it blew up I didn't see anything about Kony, and the next morning it was everywhere, and it kept growing. That's what I like about the internet. It makes your world smaller. I think it makes someone feel more significant; it's a platform for your thoughts and ideas. So it was weird to me that with each reblog or share of the video I saw, I got increasingly annoyed with the movement.

I think the intentions of the KONY 2012 movement were great: to raise awareness about these horrible events that were occurring and that had been occurring for nearly three decades. But what happened after the initial onset of the video is what I didn't like. Everybody suddenly assumed the role of virtuous social activist who, because they clicked a button, single-handedly changed the world. And I'm pretty sure everyone is going to be all "Jessica omg you're such a downer and a negative nelly, that one person helped a greater cause!" But, I can't help but feel that this movement exemplified what is bad about the internet. I don't know if this makes sense to anybody but me, but on the internet, I feel like we are passively active. We take part in conversations with people on the internet and then in real life, we act as if they never happened, or we share a video and never advocate for it in the real world. I didn't hear a single person who had shared the video advocating for KONY 2012 in the hallways, or at lunch, or in class. It all took place on the internet, which can really only do so much. So we shared the video, and now everybody knows. Now what? Has anything been done about it? Awareness has successfully been raised. I'm honestly asking this question: has anything been done about Joseph Kony's LRA since the explosion of attention? We all feel as if we helped a cause, but we hid behind our computer screens. The medium that helped the cause, the internet, is now hindering it.

Comments

[Katherine S.]

Or how about how nobody looked up Joseph Kony in another context or from another source? Like everyone was just posting the thirty minute long video made by that one man... but what if it was biased or untruthful? What if he did not give us all of the facts, but rather swept us off of our feet, because of the emotions that it created? What if that one guy has other motives besides helping the soldier children in Africa? I have heard rumors that he is putting the money that is being donated to buy other things that are not related to the movement. I just think that people should be more informed before they stand behind a movement or a certain person in charge of that movement.

[Simone A]

I agree COMPLETELY. The internet allows everyone to feel as though they are participating, when really all they are doing is talking about the issues. Even though the internet is wonderful for informing people and directing people's attention to issues facing the world, it simultaneously allows people to sign an online petition and feel like they have done their fair share. It lets people get into the cause without really getting their hands dirty. In the end, how much good can that really do?

[Sam W.]

I think the internet is a place where a partial truth or even a lie is too easily promoted. I only partially blame the companies who do it because the people who support are responsible for their opinions and it is so easy to look up something.