At the advent of the social media era, traditional pen and paper activism has become less prevalent. Instead, technology-savvy people have turned to utilizing social media as a way to make their point.  While everyone deserves the right to voice their opinion, is utilizing a social media platform really the most successful way to implement an idea?

The problem that social media presents when it comes to bringing about change is the number of people that it actually reaches.

While seventy one percent of teens state they have at least one social media site, the other twenty nine percent of adolescents are still left unrepresented. Additionally, there are even fewer numbers of social media users among higher age groups.

According to a survey conducted by Pew Research, only six percent of the total U.S. population is estimated to have access to Instagram. Moreover, the same survey demonstrated that only eighteen percent of all U.S. social media users utilize Snapchat.

Herein lies the problem: In order for social media activism to make an appreciable difference, every age group needs to be included. Though teens encompass a large population of social media users, they can not be  solely responsible for leading the pace of change revolved around social activism . For someone who desires to spread an important message to a large number and variety of people, social media won’t be the most effective way to enact change due to the amount of citizens who won’t be affected.

Even though social media may seem like a universal form of communication among today’s youth, a vast majority of average citizens, who still carry an important role in activism movements, don’t even have access to some of the most common social media platforms.

For those who do have access to social media, how likely is a message to have a significant enough impact to inspire change? Social media can be credited with encouraging notable changes, such as the Black Lives Matter movement which was tweeted and hashtagged nine million times in 2014 and is still relevant in 2017.

However, the ability to keep most social media movements going over a span of time is a tough feat.

While a select few are vocal when it comes to expressing their opinions on social media, such as celebrities and political figures, a majority of people see social media in a differing light.  For most teens, and people in general, inspiring social activism is not the first thing that comes to mind when we think of reasons why we utilize social media.

Rather, it’s an interesting way to stay caught up on the latest trends and stay in touch with friends. When someone  is quickly scrolling through their social media feed, will they be open to and truly affected by activism put into place on these platforms?

However, even if it doesn’t reach every citizen, this new era of technology driven activism is becoming increasingly prevalent. Times are changing and as more people gain access to social media platforms, more citizens will be affected by the ideas represented on social media sites.

While we may not be far off from that point, it’s imperative that until then activism should continue to be represented across multiple boards, such as implementing attainable lifestyle changes and physically vocalizing opinions in one’s community. It’s important that we don’t become too reliant on social media as the only way to charter social change.