Slacktivism or Activism: The New Age of Petitions
The nature of petitions has changed dramatically. No longer do citizens have to put pen to paper, but rather a simple click of a button on their laptops or phones.
Independent websites such as Change.org and Avaas.org, have brought many victories to our current social and political climate. Change.org’s petitions to eliminate the tampon tax and stop ALDI selling caged eggs have seen direct impacts in achieving results.
Yet this new form of activism has been dubbed as a form of ‘slacktivism’, and voices becoming lost in an online sea of thousands of petitions.
To discuss the long term effectiveness of online petitions and the corresponding assumptions, we spoke to Lecturer at School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry at Curtin University, Sky Croeser.
