"Keyboard warriors."

The term makes me cringe. I want to burrow myself deep into a space of nothing and scream until there's no more breath in my lungs. The term "keyboard warriors" is the bane of my existence.

I think the first time I heard this term was during a Facebook political rant war. A friend of mine hit "reply" to one of my comments and attached a wonderfully obnoxious meme of Kermit-the-frog frantically typing away on a typewriter (and if that isn't me, I'm not exactly sure what is.) I had no idea whether or not to be further aggravated or amused, so I decided to sit on that term for a second: keyboard warrior.

If you'd like a detailed definition of the term, you can find the Urban Dictionary definition here (however, it should be noted that your Urban Dictionary search should stop there if you plan on maintaining any part of your innocence. It should also be noted that I in no way endorse the types of rhetoric used on the site.) In short, though, the term implies a sort of "word violence" or aggression, especially when discussing political matters over the Internet.

Well, alright. Let's play that game.

So I typed some more and more. And even more after that. I typed until I could feel the pressure in my ears begin to build and my fists clench. I typed until I began to speak the words from my head out-loud as I typed them. I argued and searched for supporting articles. All I could think was, "I have a point and it is important." No one would distract me from that. No one could possibly understand unless I wrote it out. And absolutely no one would take away my activism in that moment.

I. Am. Not. A Keyboard Warrior.

Although I am not too proud of the way I conducted myself that day, the thought of "keyboard warriors" has been glued into my consciousness for quite some time. What does being a "keyboard warrior" actually entail? And why was I so upset at being one?

As I look back on that particular moment I notice that my frustrations with the term run much deeper than I may have originally noted. It goes further than being "regarded as 'losers' by other virtual identities on the internet," (As was stated in the above Urban Dictionary entry). But rather, it is a questioning of my activism as a whole. It is the idea that social media activists aren't truly activists at all.

In its truest sense, social media activism can be found anywhere on the Internet, but are particularly found at the major intersections of social interaction and media discussion. The sites that include both are particularly vulnerable: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr. All of these sites include the user's ability to become involved in "trends" (#) or the sharing of news articles. When we witness a combination of the two, there are bound to be some hefty opinions. And things can get ugly quickly.

But each and every one of us participating in such conversations feel as though what we have to say is seemingly important. We take a stand on the things that matter. We write hefty status updates that point to the disparities and problematic details of our world today. We genuinely believe we are doing something. We genuinely feel we are a part of that community. The Internet has connected us and broken us. And it has allowed us to shake the Earth where it needs to be shaken.

But in reality, are we really contributing?

My answer then would have been yes. And frankly, my answer now is still yes. And in order to fully understand this, I believe we need to go back to the foundations of activism and rhetoric as a whole.

In order to persuade, inform or discuss, we must first be aware of our audience and space. We must know these details well. We must know how our audience feels. We must know their biases. We must know their roots and where they come from. And often times, especially in recent years, this place of origin is technologically based.

If I've learned anything from my communications classes, it is that our digital world acts as an entire social sphere. It is just as alive and active as the streets we physically walk on. We interact and engage in similar ways as we do in the real world. We discuss, we dream, we travel, we learn. Our world is no longer simply confined to the neighborhoods in which we live, but the neighborhoods perched halfway around the world. We have the ability to reach the ears of those that we were unable to reach just 30 years ago. And while this concept might leave many of us awe-struck, it is something to be consistently wary of. Our voices now have the ability to travel hundreds of thousands of miles. What we say matters.

But so many of us have seemingly blown it. We've run our mouths and painted a picture of destruction for so many to see. In our efforts to build up a particular cause, we have rendered it defenseless to our inability to fully understand the greater picture and our refusal to do the "ground work."

And it is with these two concepts that make social media activism a success: Information and Ground work.

We must be informed.

It is so easy to see injustice and brokenness in real time and want to speak up. This is especially true when we note these things within our own moral framework. We see something as wrong and immediately want to speak up. Often times this jump to action is done without fully understanding our audience, our space, or even a full understanding of the issue at hand. I'm so extremely guilty of this.

We need to do the "ground work" too.

Even if we've done our homework and are thus able to speak on an issue, we oftentimes forget that our activism doesn't just exist within the digital sphere. Our activism, while useful digitally, is nothing without the daily work done in our own physical lives. If one preaches on the Internet about a specific issue but does nothing about the aforementioned issue in their real day-to-day lives, then it means absolutely nothing. We are simply keyboard warriors.

And I think so many millennials fall victim to these two hangups. We have such a desire to act without fully knowing the story and we don't understand that our actions are useless without the pairing of real work within the world. And this, by no means, is a generalization, but rather a call to action.

I am a keyboard warrior. I get amped on the issues that wring my heart in two. I furiously type away as I wish for a greater understanding for the things that truly matter. And I fail at my activism every day. I speak before I should, and I fall short on some of the work that takes place in the physical world. But with a greater emphasis on both of these things I believe we, millennials, can make a true difference. We can take hold of this world that is so extremely broken and shine a light that was meant to be shone all along. It will take a great deal of strength, prayer and petition, and perseverance. But it is possible.

We are keyboard warriors. We are physical-world warriors. We are warriors.