Slacktivism what have we become?

I asked myself am I a slacktivist? So I started to ponder what the description of the term is.

slacktivism (SLAK.tuh.viz.um) n. Activism that seeks projects and causes that require the least amount of effort. —slacktivist n.

In 1995, two students at the University of Northern Colorado circulated by e-mail a petition to rally people to protest government cutbacks in PBS, National Public Radio and the arts. In order to ensure it reached as many people as possible, it included the words, "Forward this to everyone you know." . . . Those who wage the seemingly futile war to rid the Internet of such e-mails have given a name to the practice of keeping such e-mails alive: They call it "slacker activism," or "slacktivism" (the term preferred by slacker typists). It's not that these e-mails don't intend to do good, the experts say. It's that they go about it in a way that can too easily become utterly meaningless.
—Month Phan, "On the Net, "slacktivism'," Newsday, February 27, 2001

That's what the term originally ment however in these days of quick internet petitions and emails on hot topics should we do more? I email Congress in not only my state but others often. This includes my State Congresspersons as well as the Federal ones. Sometimes I feel a phone call is more appropriate and really it does seem to be more effective than an email. While you get a staffer that is just taking a message you still make a real personal contact as opposed to an email that might just be deleted and never read.

While I still plan to continue to support those online petitions, with the rise of technology it is entirely possible that we are not being taken seriously because of the type of effort we are putting out. Given that my goal is to follow up by phone on emails I send, it doesn't take that much more additional time and once in a while, as I discovered earlier in the year a staffer will actually call you back.
(Kudos to Senator Clinton's staff as they have been the best I've come into contact with as far as response and call backs).

After all if we truly want to make a difference we need to do more than just be behind the computer screen.....