It seems this summer everyone was either talking about the ALS ice bucket challenge or taking it. It was all over social media, on the news, and even at my own workplace.
For those of you who don’t know (and trust me you aren’t the only ones) amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. These nerves are called motor neurons. The function of a motor neuron is to send messages from the brain to the spinal cord then to muscles in the rest of the body. When motor neurons degenerate they begin to die and this leads to the brain losing control of muscle movement. As a result patients in later stages of ALS can experience total body paralysis.
The popular “ice bucket challenge” called for participants to film themselves dumping a bucket of icy water on their head and posting it for viewing pleasure. The sensation of chilling cold water being dumped on their head is meant to give the victim an idea of how sensitive the nerve cells of patients of ALS are. The purpose of this very popular challenge was to raise awareness about the disease. Hundreds of thousands of people participated and joined in what was essentially a lot the fun for people.
What the ice bucket challenge really had going for it is the attraction of mob mentality. People are seeing their friends, family members, and of course the greatest influence today, celebrities take on the challenge. Those who have yet to take part and post a video don’t want to miss out on the fun. So they grab their buckets, fill them up with cold water and, rain or shine, film themselves dumping the bucket on their heads.
The challenge was a really smart idea. It appealed to young and old generations, encouraging participation no matter what your age. Families got together and do this, groups of friends organized a mass ice bucket challenge all in the name of raising awareness of ALS. The issue here is the ice bucket challenge was still all about raising awareness for a serious nerve disease or is it yet growing more akin to past let’s-see-how-much-your-body-can-handle challenges?
The problem is the same as the positive i.e. the aspect of mob mentality. Younger generations in particular looked at it as just another social media fad. I currently work part time at a grocery store and the challenge is popular amongst the employees. My coworkers would go out into the parking lot with their uniforms on and gleefully get water dumped on them. At first I thought it was great to see my peers so willing to raise awareness for ALS. Many of the participants were of the quieter personality, or those who usually were too absorbed with their lives to care about the goings on of the world. I became less impressed when I heard a couple girls who had just taken part talking about how they didn’t even know what ALS was. This both surprised and bothered me. In that minute this horrible disease and all the patients suffering from it were reduced to nothing more than a fun game.
My colleagues were not the first ones I know who have admitted to participating in the challenge without fully understanding its purpose. So why take part? The common response is that everyone else is doing it and if it’s for a good cause then why not? The ice bucket challenge have flourished and yes more people know about ALS today than ever but how much longer will this fad carry on for? Right now people are caring about ALS. But for how much longer?
