In a world of breaking news and major headlines that get the entire world talking, society needs to start taking action rather than simply posting on social media. Social media has been extremely helpful in raising awareness and starting conversations about controversial topics, but is awareness and discussion solving problems worldwide?

Social media is full of people that feel they can talk about controversial topics openly and truly express their opinions, and internet users often notice their posts. However, the question is how much have they done to solve the debate or fix the problem? 

For example, when the media was alerted about the Amazon rainforest burning, social media users posted and shared the story, and that was the bulk of the movement: awareness. Individuals can’t go and put out the fires themselves, but there can be money and resources donated to help save the forest and all of the wildlife that has yet to be discovered. 

In the past, social media created movements such as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014 that raised over $115 million for the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Association. Donations and awareness both came into play, helping researchers get the tools they needed along with the resources to help study ALS.

There are some cases where companies say that they will give a dollar to an organization every time that you buy one of their products, but how often do we see how much they donated? That would be something that they should promote if they truly are donating because that shows customers accountability and helps out a good cause. 

“I think that it’s a good thing to post about important things that are going on in the world. It’s a good way to spread awareness and get important news into peoples’ heads nowadays since not many people watch the news. But I also think that everyone as a society should do more to take action and help the issues going on in the world,” sophomore Jay Hessler said. 

There are some people that feel scared to speak up because they don’t want to be “part of the trend,” and these people truly want to make a difference and speak up about an issue as well as sharing their opinions. However, when everyone posts the same thing, it’s hard to be unique. 

Everyone has a right to voice their opinion and to speak up for what they believe in, but society cannot forget about taking action. When movements come along and everyone is being notified of a current issue, finding a way to help is how these problems will ultimately get closer to being solved.