While activists have long used social media tools to propagate and propel various causes, there’s been a palpable uptick in social media movements in recent years. Activism and Twitter share an inextricable link for Millennials and their tween’ successors, Generation Z. Both generations use social media to communicate their outrage and share in fruitless dialogues about complicated issues through an oft-reduced binary lens that manages to shame “bad guys” and praise oneself with unparalleled efficacy.

For much of history, people would waste innumerable days, months, and even years debating and discussing the complexities of an issue, resulting in nothing more than greater understanding. But, today’s activists are less forgiving of wasted time. Activism begins with an assurance of moral superiority and concludes by thrusting the spear of public shame through people’s hearts, using fear as a means of generating obedience and allegiance to one’s cause. It’s a striking and beautiful process that will in time lead to the homogenized modes of thinking that make for a united society unimpeded by petty squabbles and differences of opinion.

Crucial to contemporary activist campaigns are social media networks, which activists use to communicate en masse.

There’s no denying the societal impact of recent social media movements. They’re tethered to and correspond with global news flows to an astonishing degree. I’ve outlined a handful of notable campaigns from the past few years below.

#BlackLivesMatter — This hashtag arose in response to the high-levels of fatal police shootings carried out against African Americans. The movement succeeded in driving a wedge between everyone who agreed with the verbiage of the hashtag against everyone who only reads literally.

#JeSuisCharlie — After Islamic terrorists shot and killed 12 satirists at the Charlie Hebdo offices in France this hashtag united people across the world in asking who’s Jesus Charlie?

#PrayForParis — Along with #JeSuisCharlie, #PrayforParis trended after the 7 Jan 2015 attacks against Charlie Hebdo staff, demonstrating to the world that a hashtag can create at least as much social change as actual prayer.

#IStandwithAhmed — After a young Muslim boy brought in the world’s most bombish-looking clock to school for show and tell and then got fingerprinted and mugshot by police, people across the world came together to defend students’ rights to bring in school projects that look like deadly weapons, no matter their religion. The success of this movement led to Ahmed and his family leaving the country to live in Qatar where everyone is free to bring in dioramas shaped liked pipe bombs to school without reprimand.

#RefugeesWelcome — The Syrian Civil War wreaked devastation upon that nation’s people, causing millions to flee into neighboring countries in search of asylum. Activists and citizens came together online, showing support for the millions of people who never noticed because they didn’t have internet anymore. While the movement didn’t affect any government’s decision-making, it did help people show their friend’s how many clicks they give about refugees in peril.

#MeToo — Without a doubt, the most impactful hashtag in recent years is #MeToo. Never before have so many women been united by butt pinches and uncomfortable romantic advances. This hashtag resulted in a huge surge of pornographic website subscriptions and sex doll sales as men around the world decided just not to risk it with living females.

Social Media Activism Vs. Real World Activism: Q&A with Social Media Consultant

To learn more about the future of social media activism and why activists have taken to the tools, we sat down with Jemmay Durban, who’s a social media consultant specializing in activist causes. He travels around the world offering Pro Bono social media strategy services to burgeoning movements in exchange for ownership of any merchandise sold containing his hashtags.

Ministry of Information: Activists throughout history typically adopt an “in the streets” approach, consisting of sit-ins, marches, and other means of public display. What made you turn to social media as a means of creating social change?

Durban: Every activist needs to get their message to the people and people aren’t in the streets anymore. They aren’t “walking around” or “hanging outside,” they are at home on their computers, bettering their lives.

I was taught the pen was mightier than the sword. A catchy slogan is really what protests and social movements are mostly about anyways and social media does a much better job than a paper placard at spreading one’s message.

#BlackLivesMatter brought me on board right after Ferguson. At the time, they weren’t even called #BlackLivesMatter yet. They were called Brown People Against Pig Bullets. Terrible name.

I considered forming and building an official club at first, but decided to create a group page instead. Then I came up with the hashtag and Bam! we’re all over the news. Look at all the movement’s done! Sure, cops haven’t stopped shooting unarmed black people, but at least we have a hashtag to communicate how against it we are when it happens. That’s something!

I think Dr. King would have respected our vision.

MINISTRY: There’s been those who question the efficacy of social media movements, can you speak to this?

Durban: Sure. Personally, I’ve been blown away by how much the movements I’ve consulted with were able to accomplish, from #BlackLivesMatter to #NeverAgain to #MeToo. Never before have so many people come together to shame those they disagree with and banish evil men from society. The court system is slow, but social justice acts with swiftness. We’re doing everything we can and I think it’s enough.

For #MeToo, we needed 100,000 signatures for a petition. I considered hitting the streets, but figured I could generate way more signatures and attention from a well-executed and targeted PPC ad campaign. Door to door tactics are so archaic.

Why would I venture out into the world when I can connect with so many more people using technology?

Anyone can march across a bridge, but not everyone has the digital savvy to construct a meme-worthy hashtag that sticks in people’s minds like a virus. I call the execution of memetic hashtags for social justice, viral revolution. I wrote a blog about the topic if you’re interested.

But before I conclude, let me ask you a question.

Without social media, how is someone supposed to display their outrage while also communicating their own moral superiority to others?

You don’t have an answer. Do you?

The Stagnancy of Progress: Changing the World From Your Couch

While Durban and other activists continue to place social media campaigns at the center of their social protests, clinical psychologists around the world argue the shift from physical movements to social media movements is symptomatic of a culture in decline, one where narcissism, virtue signaling, and fetishized outrage have taken on more importance than the actual issues themselves. They posit that people don’t get out and take action because they don’t care for others, they only care about seeming like they care for others so as to make themselves appear moral when in fact they are empty shells wading through the myre of their own delusional self-narratives.

As of now, there’s little actual research on the subject, but if you’d like to see more, tweet “Get off the Couch and Live!” to #ShrinksForShrinkingLaziness.