Clicktivism: Ruining activism, or saving it?

Clicktivism seems to be a hot debate nowadays, especially with the Occupy movements going on. Clicktivism by basically digital activism. This can take the form of an online petition or even phone calls asking you to donate money to a cause. Many activists have a problem with clicktivism because they claim clicktivists use marketing techniques to get people to be active. 

In an article I got from clicktivism.org, Micah White argues against clicktivism. He argues that clicktivists use marketing techniques such as tracking by how many clicks they get in order to be active. He says that the power of ideas is gone and clicktivism is all about testing how well a subject line or message does when attempting to capture a person's attention. It's not longer about the cause, but about how many people join the cause. 

Questions: Do you think clicktivism is a good or bad thing? Are there ways to improve on these ideas of digital activism?

If you'd like to read the article, click here. 

Can Social Media Ruin A Marriage?

I came across an interesting article today about social media and how it could potentially ruin a marriage. Nowadays it seems like it would be difficult to get away with an online affair because everything is out in the open online. However, it's still possible. In fact, a lot of people think that talking to another person through email or messages on Facebook isn't cheating at all. But those "innocent" messages can lead to meetings which can lead to an affair.

In this article a man named Mike Green shares his story about his wife. She signed them up for a texting plan, although Green never used it. However, his wife was seen texting all the time. When asked if he was upset about her texting, he claimed he trusted her and was not affected by it. Soon he found out that she had started an affair with a coworker of hers that she had been texting.

So my question is this: Can social media sites like Facebook and Twitter ruin marriages? Is it harder or easier to get away with an affair if it's started online? What do YOU think?

If you'd like to read the article, click here. 

Cyber Bullying: How far is too far?

Cyber bullying is a hot topic in today's society. With suicide rates going up among teens its a tragedy that not much has been done to stop it. As a past victim of cyber bullying, I take these stories to heart. I think it's so sad that kids these days feel they have a right to torment and torture another kid and not be aware of the consequences.

I found an article about some websites that are set up to terrorize children here in the Bay Area. These websites are being unregulated and allow posters to comment on any classmate anonymously. The poster is anonymous, the tortured classmate is not. These kinds of websites should be taken down immediately. How can anyone condone such violence among kids?

In the article, a mother comments on how schools are not doing as much as they should to help stop cyber bullying. While I agree more should be done to stop the bullying, I don't think it's just up to the schools to fix it. Technically most teachers and principals cannot do anything about the bullying unless it is done on school property, i.e. a school computer. What school administrators CAN do is talk to the parents of both bullied students and those doing the bullying. This all stops with education.

I pose this question: Is there more that schools can do to help stop cyber bullying? Provide protection? Or is this up to the parents to teach their kids about the dangers of cyber bullying?

If you'd like to read the article, click here.