Ah, summer 2014. “Fancy,” by Iggy Azalea, featuring Charli XCX boomed from car windows and in GAP stores nationwide.
[“Fancy,” by Iggy Azalea, featuring Charli XCX]
Vine still had a few months left of being funny…
And, of course, charity went viral?
[sound from a 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge video]
The Ice Bucket Challenge was simple, not to mention entertaining: Get drenched in ice water, donate to ALS, nominate someone else to do the same.
It raised $115 million for the ALS Association, which led to $1 billion more in follow-on funding.
All that, because over 17 million people suddenly synced their passion to find a cure for a neurodegenerative disease that was first recognized almost 150 years prior.
Right?
DEAN KARLAN: It lost its link to ALS, but I think that’s kind of a good thing in a way, because it just became a way for people to raise some money for something they cared about. And so some people did it, but did it for some other charity.
So, maybe not. That was Northwestern economics professor Dean Karlan. He was formerly the chief economist at the humanitarian aid organization USAID, and he teaches a class right now called Doing Good, about the intersection of economics and charity.
Just over a decade later, the ice buckets are back — this time, for mental health.
[sound from the original UofSC Speak Your Mind Ice Bucket Challenge video]
The new ice bucket challenge was started by a group of students at the University of South Carolina. This time, it’s called the Speak Your Mind challenge for the nonprofit organization Active Minds. Their website states that they aim to “mobilize youth to transform mental health norms.”
But this time around, the ice buckets have been somewhat…polarizing.
Here’s Savannah Knupp, a junior who majors in psychology and works in a psych lab.
SAVNANNAH KNUPP: If I’m being honest, I don’t totally see much being gained from doing this challenge for mental health, just because I do think I’d never heard of ALS in the past before hearing of the challenge, so it really was bringing awareness for ALS versus, with mental health, I do think that’s been a really popular topic in recent years.
Karlan also considered the implications of mental health getting the attention that so many other issues also deserve.
KARLAN: We might need to heighten attention to mental health. I think there’s lots of problems in the world that we need to heighten attention to. And so the part that I get angst on is: Is mental health the one that is most underattended to versus other issues?
But he said it ultimately isn’t up to him to decide which problems in our world should get viral support.
KARLAN: So do I think it’s bad if mental health gets more attention? No, I think it’s great. If you asked me what should get more attention, I don’t know.
Like many social justice-related trends online, the Speak Your Mind challenge raises a question of whether the impact we make on the issue is bigger than just clicks or likes.
KNUPP: It does feel a little bit performative for people to post a video and say, “Yeah I care about mental health.” What are you actually doing beyond the screen?
But Karlan acknowledged that performativeness may not be so bad, as long as it gets people giving.
KARLAN: And it does suggest that people might be giving for reasons that are more about the fad and social camaraderie and whatnot, but you know what? Hey, if it gets them to donate, it’s like — Sure, would I love a world in which everybody donates because they thought hard about the theory of the problem and care about others and maximize? Of course, but that’s not the way the world works.
You know that saying, “Charity starts at home?” Knupp echoed the idea that we, as individuals, should consider how to make a personal impact by advocating within our communities rather than just becoming the next to join a trend.
KNUPP: I think oftentimes we come up with these large goals of “We’re going to cure this or save all these people,” when in reality, the biggest differences are the ones you make at home.
But that’s not to say raising awareness about mental health issues isn’t important. Senior Evelyn Driscoll is the president of Northwestern’s Active Minds chapter. She said participating in a trend like this can feel less daunting to those worried about being “emotionally invasive.”
EVELYN DRISCOLL: One of the hard parts about mental health and stigma is that stigma kind of feeds on silence. And so I think what’s cool about the ice bucket challenge is it’s kind of a way to break the silence about mental health care and the need for it in the world without having to share your own mental health experiences.
Driscoll thinks that, as far as we’ve come with mental health destigmatization, we still have a way to go.
DRISCOLL: We really need an improvement in mental health care access. And one aspect of that is the stigma, and destigmatizing it at the social media level. But I think that, ultimately, I hope that this can raise awareness to make people realize and understand why mental care access and mental health support and mental health research is imperative. As great as talking about it and being aware of what you’re experiencing, and knowing what mental health is — and that is definitely the education part is very important — but also having access to the critical care that everyone deserves is also very important.
Some have criticized whether Active Minds should be the mental health charity that the campaign is directed toward. Others question whether people should channel the money toward another issue entirely. And, like Knupp, many wonder how much good any of this is actually doing.
But ultimately, Karlan says he doesn’t think there’s any harm in the trend. We may not have the answers to those questions. But we also might not need them.
KARLAN: Because at the end of the day, I strongly suspect that these charities are underfunded, and giving them more money would be a good thing and it is a space that does have strong evidence for it. I just don’t know the mapping of which charities are the most effective, but I would hate for that to actually cause hesitation for someone for giving.
There’s a phenomenon related to giving called “warm glow,” which refers to the positive, perhaps warm and fuzzy feeling we get when we give back, which often makes us want to give back more.
KARLAN: Sometimes giving to charity inspires people to just then give more to charities.
Maybe you’re trying to spread the glow through mental health advocacy between family and friends. Or, maybe you’re using it to warm up after an ice water dousing. Perhaps you’re getting that warm glow from giving to a different cause entirely.
In any case, the world could use more do-gooding.
Georgia Kerrigan, WNUR News.
Web sources:
Let’s get this conversation started! #SpeakYourMIND
Helping You Understand ALS | The ALS Association.
The ALS Association and Active Minds Collaborate for ALS and Mental Health Awareness Month.
