The Ice Bucket Challenge has made a comeback this spring at the University of South Carolina (USC), but this time, with a new purpose. Instead of raising money for ALS, or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, like the original version, which took place in 2014, USC has used the same idea to shine a light on mental health! This trend is called the #SpeakYourMind Challenge, and was launched a few weeks ago through Instagram by a USC student who was a part of the MIND club at their school. People pour buckets of freezing cold water over themselves to show support for mental health awareness. Before posting, people tag the USC MIND account and friends and family to encourage them to take part too, trying to keep the chain going. Essentially, people who are tagged have 24 hours to complete the challenge, which is pouring a bucket of ice water on themselves.
It has definitely caught people’s attention. Whether it is on Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat, videos of people dumping ice water on their heads are popping up everywhere, and many have shared and reposted messages about why mental health is important. This trend has made its way over to Yorba Linda High School as other students have joined in, getting soaked and tagging their friends.
At first, it seemed like the challenge was doing exactly what it was supposed to: getting people to talk about mental health. According to the USC website, this challenge has also raised much more than their previous goal, $250,000. But even with all the good it did, some people started asking a hard question: Is this Ice Bucket Challenge really about mental health, or did it just turn into another excuse to make videos for social media? Scrolling through the hashtags, you can see that some of the videos have lost the mental health message. Additionally, some people just dumped water on themselves and screamed without saying anything about why they were doing it. Others made it into a funny dare or challenged their friends to do crazier things, like using bigger buckets or even standing under freezing showers. “I like the idea of it,” said Gavin Molle (9), “But honestly, some of the videos I see just feel like people want likes and followers. They don’t even mention mental health.” Another student, Carter Russell (10), agrees, “If you’re going to do it, it would be cool if people could say something meaningful about mental health.”
Still, not everyone thinks that’s a bad thing. Some students at YLHS believe that even if not every video stayed serious, the fact that mental health was getting known by more people was a good thing. At the end of the day, the USC Ice Bucket Challenge probably wasn’t perfect, since not every video was meaningful, as some seemed to shift more towards entertainment than awareness. But even with that, it helped make mental health a bigger topic of conversation around the world, which is something that really matters.
Mental health might still feel like a heavy topic to discuss, but challenges like #SpeakYourMind show that it’s okay to bring it up. Whether you’re soaking wet with a bucket on your head or just talking to a friend, every little step helps. Mental health isn’t a social media trend, but it’s a real, important part of all our lives, and it deserves way more than just a few seconds of attention.
