THE ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE - THE COLD TRUTH

It was the most unexpected revival of a long-forgotten trend from the mid-2010s, yet it worked its magic and, miraculously, has spawned another wave of youths to partake in this fad. This fad in question is the USC Speak Your Mind Ice Bucket Challenge, which was conceived by a group from USC called MIND (Mental Illness Needs Discussion) Club, after the death of a student who attended the school, Wade Jefferson, by suicide.

Origins of The Ice Bucket Challenge

The conceptualisation of this challenge has its rationale - it was popular back then, why not now? In the summer of 2014, three young men suffering from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Anthony Senerchia, Pete Frates and Pat Quinn, had started the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness for the disease, which was terminal yet still relatively unknown. The challenge was simple; a candidate partaking in this at-the-time absurd action of pouring ice-cold water on themselves would go forth to nominate another set of people; and this would cause a chain reaction, in which all these videos of people doing the challenge would be uploaded to social media, creating an influx of newfound publicity for ALS, raising 220 million USD for ALS research. Now, it has been adopted by a new generation of aspiring youths who are passionate about a separate cause - mental health.

Back then, social media was not as democratised as it is now; in January 2014, only 1.857 billion people used social media, in comparison to the profoundly gargantuan number of 5.24 billion today. As a result, this ascent of social media as a platform to provide voices for the voiceless has been used for causes like these, and it is clear how significant the impact of this challenge has been. On Instagram, it has become commonplace to see friends’ stories flooded with them doing the ice bucket challenge, “thanking” their friends for nominating them, before being soaked in gelid water that engulfs and overwhelms their senses temporarily. This temporary incapacitation was actually supposed to imitate the feeling of having ALS, but has been used now due to its spectacle and sensational nature, something that the algorithm perceives as omnipotent.

Opinions towards the Ice Bucket Challenge

Thus, it is no surprise that the challenge has its criticisms. The main argument against this challenge is that sensationalism suppresses the real message behind it. Akin to the song Hey Ya! by Outkast, which has a light-hearted melody but a dark meaning behind it, this challenge might have shifted people’s focus away from the real cause behind it - to promote mental health awareness. While a fair share of candidates have done their part to mention mental health in their stories before pouring a ludicrous amount of frigid water on themselves, some do it out of FOMO or because it is fun without truly acknowledging the motive behind it.

Additionally, as mentioned before, the ALS edition of the Ice Bucket Challenge felt more pragmatic towards raising money for ALS research as the dumping of ice cold water on oneself was supposed to emulate the feeling of being paralysed by the disease. However, there seems to be no correlation between mental health and cold water, which has sparked debates online, questioning the ingenuity of this challenge - was there a better way to promote this cause instead of reusing an old trend that anyone could do?

However, it is also undeniable that the USC edition of the Ice Bucket Challenge has produced positive results, as it has easily achieved its original goal of raising 250 thousand USD for the ActiveMinds organisation, the largest nonprofit in the United States that dedicates itself to helping those who need help with mental health issues to find solace and comfort from the nightmarish gripes of anxiety, schizophrenia or even depression. It does go to show that the challenge, while lacking a sense of relevance towards the cause, has done its part to promulgate an already well-known cause to a new wave of youths, carrying on the notion that mental health is a key part of our lives.

The Wider Impact

Mental health has been one of the most persistent problems plaguing present-day society. Suicide rates have seen a 35.6% increase from 2000 to 2023 (albeit a slight drop in this statistic from 2018 to 2020), from 10.4 deaths per 100000 to 14.1 per 100000, with the majority of them being 15 to 29-year-olds. This is keeping in mind that suicide rates may be underreported by many states due to the social stigma and the pernicious effects it has on a population. Thus, it has become even more critical that we have to address this pre-eminent societal issue of mental health, which the USC Ice Bucket Challenge aims to accomplish.

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