I'm Aware, I'm Aware

I’m sure you’ve seen that status before—it’s popped up on my newsfeed six or seven different times.  When I first saw it, it was humorous.  When it appeared the second time, I thought that my friends were just copying one another.  But around the fourth or fifth time, I started to smell a rat.  I commented on one of those statuses, partly because I wanted to know what was up, and partly because I wanted to be a bit snide about it.  Hey, I’m only human.  Well, I got my answer: no sooner had I posted my comment than I received a message in my inbox from the friend who’d posted the status.  

“So here’s the rules: For liking or commenting on my status, you must now post the same message as your status to continue the game for Breast Cancer Awareness (unless you’ve lost your sense of humor!).”

Awareness, huh?  Seems to me that just like the need to pretend to be a slug, that word is turning up everywhere.  People are all about raising awareness for one cause or another these days.  Video responses, hashtags, facebook posts sharing articles and photos—the social media world enjoys this game of “pass-it-on”.  Maybe a bit too much.

I know, call me a grouch, and maybe I am.  Raising awareness about bad things in the world is important, isn’t it?  Well, yes—people need to know about the problems that need solving, or they will never get solved.  But the fact is, after a certain point, raising awareness doesn’t help us very much.  Most of us don’t want to be reminded of bad things.  I never did pass on the slug status; I saw the “game” not as a necessary way of sharing information—which it didn’t, not really—but as a chain letter, daring others online to continue the trend or TERRIBLE THINGS WILL HAPPEN.  I deleted the message.

It’s easy to send out a chain letter, and easy to ignore one.  It takes a lot more than that to make a difference in the world.  The hard truth is, sharing information doesn’t really help, either.  You can spout information until you’re blue in the face, but most people use as little information as possible to make decisions (see note).  Even with the most compelling facts and figures, there are always other reasons for bad behavior or apathy.  Most people know they should eat well, but McDonalds’ is still in business, isn’t it?  Most people know that cancer is a terrible disease, so why doesn’t everyone contribute part of their monthly check to finding a cure?  People will do what they want.

That’s what it comes down to: wanting.  Brainy as we are, we humans as a whole are more reliant on intuition and emotion when it comes to making decisions.  I myself will usually make a decision based on whether or not it feels right, whatever the pros and cons add up to.  So raising awareness with a Facebook status or a tweet might make us feel better—and it does feel good, because it makes us feel self-righteous and accomplished.  But it usually doesn’t accomplish much, and sometimes it can even do the exact opposite of its intention, making someone like me roll her eyes in irritation.

To get a reaction, to make a change in people’s behavior or drive them to action, you have to make them want to change or to act.  Intrinsic motivations are the key here.  You need to get personal, to show rather than tell.  Instead of talking about the number of women trying to support their families abroad, offer the story of a woman named Noor Zia, who started a beauty salon in her home with the help of a small business loan.  Instead of listing facts and figures about why smoking is bad, use the voice of a young boy worried that his father’s smoking is going to kill him.  If you’re going to use a game, make it unique and fun, as demonstrated by the enormous success of the Ice Bucket Challenge.  All this takes a lot more effort than the moment it takes to post a silly status to “raise awareness”.

We all know the world has problems; we get it already.  There are so many problems that one person can’t possibly bear to know about all of them.  We can’t care about it all, so we try not to care at all, most of the time.  Raising awareness is important, but we have to do it the right way, and it will never be easy.  But you get out what you put in, right?  So let’s do a little bit more than make people aware—let’s make them care.

Note: This is an idea discussed in an excellent article by Jesse Singal, which takes a more in-depth look at the psychology behind raising awareness.  Find it here.