Unless you’ve been completely MIA from social media and the internet in general, you’ve seen Facebook full of videos of people dumping buckets of ice water on their heads. The #icebucketchallenge is simple enough; if you are nominated, either record yourself pouring ice water on your head or donate $100 to the ALS Foundation. Like the would-you-rather game or an elementary school dare, there is no in-between such as the crazy idea of actually NOT taking the ice water challenge and simply donating money to any charity of your choice. I have tons of great reasons why not to do it, the main one being that I simply do not want to do it, and the only reason I’ve heard I should do it is “because everyone else is doing it and I’ve been challenged (aka dared)”. Those who know me know that this never has, nor will it ever be, a good enough reason for me to do something.

Don’t get me wrong- I have nothing against those who wish to participate in the challenge, because they choose to do so, and the videos are entertaining enough to watch. In fact, according to this article, the ALS foundation has raised over a million dollars in the past two weeks compared to only $22,000 last year. Although it seems to be raising at least a bit of awareness for those who choose to actually look up the foundation they are choosing not to donate to, many people are spending more time, money, and resources on the challenge than on the actual cause. Like many other trends that come and go on Facebook and other forms of social media, we all know it’s only a matter of time before everyone forgets about this and moves on to the next- Exhibit A: Dumping a Bucket of Ice on Your Head Does Not Make You a Philanthropist. 

So there you go- you now have enough resources to do a bit of research on what is actually happening, your own experiences on social media, and my opinion on it all. If you would like to participate in the ice bucket challenge, I 100% believe you should go for it. But I expect the same respect for my decision to do the no ice bucket challenge, and to educate myself about the issue and donate as much as I am able to instead of pouring cold water on my head against my will. 🙂