hii! i know i said i would begin to update more but i disappeared for like 3 months. i'm actually gonna update now after i finish my end of the marking period tests, i am sincerely sorry.

i would like to ask if you guys could help me with these feature article i have to write. any suggestions would be wonderful, like fluency issues, synonyms, pieces of evidence, etc. anything's fine.

Your thoughts and prayers don't save any more lives.

Especially when you lazily broadcast your false condolences onto your Instagram story, fully aware that those who have lost family or friends due to a shooting will never hear your words.

So, what's the point then?

Clearly, it is to make yourself feel like a better person.

The common response to these tragedies is to post your 'thoughts and prayers' onto your story, although, it has proven to not produce any improvement.

These frequent acts of slacktivism — doing the absolute bare minimum to help an issue in order to make yourself feel as if you have done something — do not help create positive change in America.

That is why we, as a society, must help minimize the amount of slacktivism occurring in our modern day society.

For instance, there  have been at least 2,274 shootings since the Sandy Hook massacre  in 2012, yet we refuse to make any modifications.

Days after the Parkland shooting in Florida, America held its breath as we waited for Congress to enforce
any form of change.

It never came.

Many of us are no different than Congress as we refuse to help America change.

Posting empty prayers on Twitter will never prevent another shooting. A killer will not glance at your tweet and suddenly decide to contemplate what they're doing.

We are in a cycle that is allowing massacres to continue and all we do is tweet out "praying for the victims,'' rather than taking a stance and putting effort into preventing another shooting.

Social media did not exist during the Revolutionary War when we were advocating and fighting for freedom. They didn't tweet out to King George and yell at him until he changed his mind; the patriots knew what they wanted and worked together to create a difference.

They used more than 280 characters behind a computer screen, they produced change because they worked for it.

Although, Twitter shouldn't be underestimated as it can really aid in creating change. However, imagine walking up to a microphone and saying, "my thoughts and prayers". That doesn't make sense, does it?

If you are going to use Twitter to spread a message, treat it as if it were a microphone.

The term 'thoughts and prayers' has even become somewhat of a joke — not a ha-ha joke, but a political joke.

After the 2016 Orlando shooting, Mike Lacher made a "Thoughts and Prayers" video game. In the game you try to stop another mass shooting by clicking buttons that say "think" and "pray." If you click the button that states "ban assault weapons," you're rejected; the game calls you weak and unAmerican, it tells you to pray harder.

It is a perfect example of what is occurring in America. We don't actively try to stop an issue, instead we pray and such, allowing the problem to continue and collectively get worse.

The phrase was once sincere and had a deeper meaning, but since we use it whenever a shooting occurs, it has lost all of its traditional meaning.

Even Pope Francis agrees, "Prayer that doesn't lead to concrete action toward our brothers is a fruitless and incomplete prayer," he expresses in 2013. "Prayer and action must always be profoundly united."

Instead of posting fake prayers on your story which don't prevent another shooting, actively participate in protests, donate money, or educate yourself as to what is going on.

Your thoughts and prayers don't save anymore lives, but your action can.