I’m not sure if it’s just my ‘friends’ on Facebook but recently my entire newsfeed has been taken up by this ice bucket challenge. I understand that it’s raising awareness for ALS, however, after watching some of these people tip bucketsful of ice over their heads most of them haven’t even mentioned the disease. It’s now become all about the supposed joy of filming yourself getting an extreme cold shock.

So just in case, you also don’t know what ALS is I’ve done a little research and here is a link to the ALS website with some more information. I have even found something that I believe is a better solution to the ice bucket challenge, rather than saying tip a bucket of ice over your head in the next 24 hours or you have to donate (making it sound like a bad thing), there is a new phenomenon sparked from it called the #ricebucketchallenge, raising awareness for poverty by encouraging people to donate buckets of raw food.

On another level, it’s amazing to see the new and creative ways that people are using the internet and social media. This craze has gone viral very quickly and has gotten multitudes of people involved. From friends that I haven’t spoken to in years, to my aunts, uncles and cousins in Ireland to my neighbours next door. Plenty of celebrities and public figures are getting involved too. Here’s one John Mayer did:

Anyway, as much as I disagree with the lack of respect given to ALS in some people’s challenges, it’s a great way to utilise the internet and social media to raise awareness.