I also think that teens and young adults do place a lot of emphasis on the technological world and that this is engaging younger generations. Again, it also has it’s drawbacks. For example, blogging can encourage individualism. Even being 30 years old and not having “grown-up” with technology as much as women 5-10 years younger than me, I find myself more cautious of technology since it’s not as normalized for me as it is with most of the slightly younger activists I work with.

I find the book Women@internet: Creating New Cultures in Cyberspace by Wendy Harcourt an interesting read on how “democratizing” the Internet can and can’t be. It’s 10 years old now, but still has relevance.

Blogging in certain countries where the media controlled by the ruling government is certainly an act of micro-activism. In these countries information is vetted to suit the interests of those in power, but not those of the people. This is where online activism is popular – it is a democratic form of expression; anyone can say anything s/he likes!

The online research firm Harris Interactive reports that 50 percent of women prefer the Internet to sex… So females may actually be the pioneers of this online activism…

The internet facilitates connection, but one key to its success is that it is a low-context medium, ie, we communicate through our written word only – there is no non-verbal connection and no impressions/judgments about shy-bold, judgemental-outgoing, same-gender and inter-gender competition, young-old, married-single, orthodox-liberal, student-teacher, upper class/poor, adolescent/elderly (unless we explicitly make them issues). I can really listen to someone better without the background noise that the rest of these dimensions of human personhood create.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m no misanthrope. I love people and I’m natively curious about everyone including – maybe even especially – the people I interact with online and whose work I admire or argue with, but for the purposes of moving an activist project forward, or even just for the purpose of advocating, it helps to remove interpersonal distractions.

Also, I’ll be linking and excerpting this at my blog.

For the past 2 years my life has been dedicated solely to activism online and the results are outstanding. This tool (the internet, which is much more than just a medium) has empowered us beyond belief, and it does more than merely provide a global platform in which we can share our opinions, uncensored and in an open fashion.

And if you really want to see the effectiveness of writing online, you only need to explore the fact that more bloggers have been arrested than journalists have in the past few years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. See the graphic here.

Had it not been for the internet, would the world know about the 8 year old who escaped a forced marriage in Yemen, and is now being awarded and her courage is recognized internationally, which has shamed the Yemeni media? Would Nazanin be executed in Iran by now had it not been for the massive online efforts to help free her? Would all the bloggers, journalists, film-makers and more be free without the viral online campaigns to successfully demand and achieve their release? Would we be aware of crimes against minorities that are documented, in some countries solely on the internet due to censorship in the traditional media?

I spend so much of my time being active for social issues on the Internet because it does help. If it doesn’t, and I didn’t see real, concrete results of my work and the work of others, I wouldn’t be this involved at all. The power and effectiveness of the internet is undeniable.