By Jared Fields, Managing Editor

Say you’re fighting mad about something or want to see some change around you. You need to let the world, or at least a few close friends, know the extent of your rage and how you plan to start the next big revolution.

But you’re smarter than previous generations who tried this. People before you held picket signs, had sit-ins, demonstrations, wrote letters to congressmen or even used violence to get results they wanted.

But not you. You’re smarter than them; you grew up in the Internet age.

You have Facebook.

Now, when young people get mad they turn to the Internet instead of the source. I see Facebook groups popping up everyday, but I don’t see activism acted out through person-to-person interaction.

The latest trend in protest and political rallying is not to go to the source but to sit in front of a computer screen and vent to people who already agree with you.

Take for example the 2008 presidential race. Democratic favorites Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have almost countless pro and anti groups on Facebook.

But what good does that do? I’ll make a bold prediction and say it will not make any difference in the two races. I am sure as this race progresses I will not be approached to attend a rally, but I will be invited to plenty of groups, for and against, a certain candidate. So if someone checks my profile close enough, they’ll see I have the guts to sit down at my computer and make a stand for what I believe.

Youth say they want to make a difference, but they create a group on an Internet site where the people they’re addressing know little or nothing. You can look to issues here to see how young people have no clue how to make a change.

Instead of going to the Students’ Association, Facebook groups are created to “demand” things like a looser attendance policy, a recreation center and a promise to attend Lectureship if teachers let them out of class. The group wanting a recreation center has almost 600 members. Six hundred people can make an impact, but if no one who matters in the decision-making process knows there are that many wanting a rec center, then nothing can ever be accomplished.

To speak for the power of Facebook and the ineffectiveness at the same time, look at the groups that formed denouncing Facebook after its format changed. Instead of deleting profiles, people joined groups to show their anger.

Lord help them if they had to show true protest and actually take action. Then something might get done.