By: Madison Wong, Opinions Editor

TW: mentions of rape & torture

Picture this: you’re sitting at home and decide to open up Instagram on your phone. As soon as you open the app, you see hundreds of young people’s posts about social injustice. This is the power of Generation Z. Generation Z, or Gen Z for short, is an especially unique generation. For one, they are the most diverse generation, both ethnically and racially. But one of the most notable aspects of Gen Z is their determination to make change in the world by utilizing what they know best: social media.

One of the first instances where it first became evident that Gen Z could make a difference was in 2014 when the Ice Bucket Challenge became popularized. This challenge raised awareness towards amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a nervous system disease, and resulted in $65 million donated in one week. Thousands of kids and teenagers a part of Gen Z participated, aiding the spread of the challenge, and thus, awareness. But that was only the beginning. 

In light of the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McMClain, and countless others, Gen Zers have been using their social media platforms to spread awareness, information, and resources. For a while, posts about social injustice were all that anyone saw on their feeds, so many people were curious and clicked on the posts to learn more, allowing more people to be aware as to what was happening in the world. Gen Zers posted and reposted links to petitions, allowing some of them to reach their signature goals within a few hours. These posts also sparked many discussions within families, prompting more young people to be interested in politics and current events. 

Gen Z has also taken on global issues on social media, including the concentration camps in China, holding hundreds of thousands of Muslims. There, Uigher Muslims are forced to eat pork, tortured, and women are raped. A few months ago, most people would not have known about these concentration camps because mainstream media does not cover such issues, but social media has allowed people to educate themselves and spread awareness. However, the proactiveness on social media also has its downsides. 

With many posts regarding social issues circulating Instagram and other platforms, it is easy for false or misleading information to spread quickly. As the first generation to grow up surrounded by social media, Gen Z is most influenced by its platforms, and often believes much of the information displayed. People may read an intriguing post and repost it without checking to ensure the information is entirely true. More people will see what they reposted and believe it without a second thought, creating a chain of misinformation moving from person to person. An easy way to avoid spreading false information is to read the comments and check the sources on the original post. Make sure the sources a post uses are credible and be sure to read the comments as oftentimes, people will speak up if it is misleading and explain why.

Along with false or misleading information social media provides accessible platforms for performative activism. Many people, especially celebrities, feel the need to post about injustices when there is an uproar to show their followers that they care about such issues, when in reality, they are not interested in getting involved further. Do not be afraid to call people out. To make change, people must be vocal, so staying silent means that they are okay with the system we currently live in and are not seeking change.  

Using your social media platform is a great and easy way to get involved in the issues you care about and make a difference in the world. Whether you are posting phone numbers of senators to call to demand change or simply posting a powerful image to inspire others to care, you are making a change. And if you do not feel comfortable posting, then simply liking, saving, or sharing will tell the social media platform to show that post to more people, spreading information and awareness. If you have 500 followers and 1% of them learn something from your post, then 5 people will have learned something new. It only takes a few clicks to help make a change.