I recently read an article by Malcolm Gladwell called"Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted," and it made me realize something very concerning. Most of us have social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc.), and regardless of what type of social media you have, I am sure you have read posts and status updates which can be classified as social activism.

A large part of social activism is bringing awareness to problems in our society. When the media fails to correctly portray world affairs, the job of bringing the real news goes to activists. And nowadays, when we are in the middle of a technology revolution, news is easiest to spread through social media. For example, most people has no idea exactly what was happening in Gaza until they saw actual pictures of the violence and injustice that was going on there. The same goes for the situation in Syria. Most people had little to no knowledge of what was going on in other parts of the world until they saw it on social media.

Comedian Hasan Minhaj made a very valid point when he joked that because of how active most of the world is on social media, the biggest source of news for people is Facebook and the like. Therefore, he suggested, it would be much easier for the world to "help" countries in need if each country made the effort to create a Facebook profile and then updated us with it's current affairs every once in a while. He joked about how the conversation would go:

Zimbabwe: "Zimbabwe is having a rough week."

Silly American: "What's up Zimbabwe?!?!"

Zimbabwe: "Oh, you know! Just fighting a civil war."

Silly American: "WTF?. . .What's a civil war?

Zimbabwe: "Civil war is when two rivaling political groups fight against each other. Oftentimes over control of land. Resulting in heavy civilian casualties. Can you help us right now? We really need your help!"

Silly American: "Ahh. . .I can super-poke the tribe you're fighting against! Maybe I can throw a vampire on their page! You may not win the civil war, but they would be like, '. . .what is going on with all these third party application?!' That's all I can do to show you that I care."

Zimbabwe: "Well, you silly American, that won't help us win this war."

Silly American: "Well. . .I'm at work right now, Zimbabwe, and my manager is looking at me so BRB (I'm lying)"

(link to the video is below—enjoy!)

And that is exactly what I am talking about. The most social activists can do is like, comment, and share, and that does not solve the problem.

What we fail to realize is that we are not, in fact, making a great change in the world by hash-tagging or posting status updates. Of course, I'm not saying that you shouldn't post those update—go ahead, because that's the main source of awareness people get! What I am saying is that posting a status update or sharing pictures of a problem is not enough. We need to do more!

What I'm getting at right now, is that we are not doing enough, I am not doing enough. We share, we like, we comment, we post, but we rarely do more than that. When we are given opportunities to help others, we don't take advantage of them. If you take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, for example, most people did the challenge and tagged ten other friends along with that, but very few actually donated money after it. CNN reports that out of the 17 million people who participated in the challenge, only 2.5 million people donated. The 2.5 million who donated actually made a difference while the 14.5 million who did not donate did not make a big impact. They provided a means to spread the word but did not make a difference.

One of Gladwell's biggest arguments was that to be an activist requires sacrifice and without sacrifice there is no activism. When Rosa Parks got arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott became an important symbol of the Civil Rights movement. Seventy-five percent of the riders of the Montgomery Bus were black and in response to the injustice several stopped using the service and walked as far as 20 miles, regardless of weather. For a year they sacrificed and remained firm on their boycott and finally, the Montgomery Bus company gave in.

Nowadays, the biggest sacrifice people do through social media is write up a post. That is not activism. It is now time, that we realize what activism is and we follow through with it in the manner it should be. We need to stop deceiving ourselves by thinking that by sharing a status or signing a petition, we are doing great things for the world. We are not. We need to go forward and physically try to stop the problems in the world. In addition, regardless of the fact that a matter is of reform or activism or being a good fellow human being, we need to strive to make changes through our hard work. Nothing is ever achieved without hard work and sacrifice. Several parts of the world continue to suffer from the problems that started years back, and back, and back even though there is a lot of social media attention dedicated towards them. That is because social media is not doing enough.

I leave you with Gladwell's quote: "Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice."

I hope this article woke you up and created a small, if not dire need to make change in the world, not just through social activism, but also through traditional activism. Stand physically, side by side of the oppressed, stand physically and help those in need. Don't give into the social revolution and forget what it means to be a human. Don't let yourself get deceived and actually go out there and change the world with your hands. Be a friend who hugs another when he/she cries. Be an activist who yells at a politician who is being unjust--anyone can do it behind a computer, but very few can trully create reform and change through matters like that.

The joke starts at 1:15