What is Slacktivism?
Most basically, it's is a blend of the terms "slacker" and "activism," and the initial denotation of the word actually had nothing to do with the Internet. Slacktivism originally referred to "bottom-up activities by young people to affect society on a small personal level," and did not carry a negative connotation.
Today, Slacktivism (also referred to as clicktivism in strictly online contexts) most often refers to activism that has no social or political impact, wherein "satisfaction is derived from having done something good for society without actively engaging in politics, protest, or civil disobedience" (Neumayer & Schoßböck, 2011). Online, you might recognize it as a post on social media made to demonstrate one's solidarity with a social or political movement, or possibly a twitter thread where many individuals echo each others' shared lived experiences (or do the opposite). It might also describe a bumper sticker (or shirt, hat, poster, etc.) expressing a political or social belief.
However, these activities only can fall under the blanket of slacktivism if the person responsible is doing them in place of actual contribution towards change. This is the major idea behind the rising slacktivism concern: that younger generations are substituting their political participation with shallow and unproductive online activities that serve to do nothing but provide an illusory sense of contribution and make them feel self-assured.
Shown above: A TEDx Talk on social media's impact on activism
Slacktivism is a real phenomena, but its significance has arguably been inflated to a point that it has become reductive language, undermining effective online activism (of which there is plenty). And it's simply not clear that slacktivism is an indicator of a declining rate of meaningful political participation.
Of course, when one's sole contribution to a political or social cause is an instagram post, retweet, or bumper sticker, this may be recognized as ineffective towards change, possibly performative, and disheartening to some. However, these activities are harmless so long as the empirical data doesn't indicate them as replacing actual contribution towards change. What the literature does currently indicate is that social media effectively mobilizes offline action. Learn more about this here. Furthermore, in addition to being a powerful tool for organizing action, the internet makes it much easier to find people and organizations that support one's own beliefs and values.