Social Media for Change, Social Change & Politics
Can social media make young people more politically active?
Let’s face it- social media is very common within young people in today’s society, but at what cost do they use it? To communicate with their friends? To keep up with the latest update on what’s happening around the world? But have they thought about using social media to speak about their political views?
Social media gives a chance for young people to express their views and opinions based on the current news affair that is happening nationally or internationally. It enables young people to freely comment on what they have to say and gives them a choice of what they like to post.
It has been proven that teenagers are most likely to spend more time on their screen everyday ‘ (17%) of teenagers, defined as 13-17 years old, report spending 4 hours more online every day’ (Ballard, 2019). The hours that teenagers spend browsing online differs from those children who use social media as well- only 14% of children aged between 8-12 ‘report spending four hours or more online everyday’ (Ballard, 2019). What could be the reason behind social media usage? Let us know in the comments!
Social media usage per age group (Taken from YouGOV)
Putting social media aside, let us focus on young people’s engagement within the political sectors. Discussions amongst young individuals have demonstrated that they have no interested in politics. White et al (2000:15) stipulated that not having enough political background can have an impact on young people’s decision on whether they should engage with politics or not- ‘To take an interest in politics was seen to require a technical knowledge about concepts and ideas, which they found difficult to grasp. Sometimes this was thought to be because young people were not exposed to information about politics, either in their homes or at school’. But- WE CAN switch around and make young people believe that their voices are heard!
Below shows a graph of young people and adults’ percentages of votes from 2019
Ipsos (2019): How the voters voted in the 2019 election. Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2019-12/general-election-2019-poll-aggregate-v8.pdf (Accessed at: 23/02/2021)
As you can see from the graph above, the percentage between young people and adults are quite high- only 7% of young people aged 18-24 voted, compared to 74% of adults (Ipsos, 2019). As you can see there is a HUGE gap- you may ask yourself ‘why the huge difference?’- well that’s because older generations are more likely to be influenced to vote for their future, which can leave young people’s voices to be ignored. ‘From a voting perspective, younger voices are being drowned out by older people, who vote in droves. And that means the older population has more of an influence, which means political parties shape their policies to cater for that.’ (Bellinger, 2007). So how social media can help young people to be politically engaged?
As we all know that social media is a highly influential mode of communication in today’s young people’s lives and they use it for various reasons, as noted above. Even though there is a decline within youth political engagement ‘it is often suggested that social media can provide solution to this challenge’ (Keating & Melis, 2017:877). This can be done in various ways: young people on Twitter are able to see what’s ‘trending’, those on Facebook can see what is trending on their ‘News Feed’ and those who are on Instagram can see what the hot topics shown on their ‘Explore’ feeds. This way, for young people, it is easier for them to get involved and share their views and opinions within these three social medias.
Especially during the times between: Covid-19 pandemic, politics and Black Lives Matter Movement, it gave so many young people a chance to participate online and share their voices. The results were shown that ‘70% of young people had gotten information about the 2020 election on social media and 36% reported posting political content in the week prior. Over 60% of youth said that creating social media content helped them feel more informed, represented, and heard, although differences in these benefits exist across gender and race/ethnicity.’ (Booth et al., 2020). This shows that young people are now getting more and more involved within politics, thanks to social media.
The below graph also shows the differences of social media usage between the year of 2018 and 2020 used by young adults (ages 18-24) in relation to election.
Graph showing the social media usage between September 2018 and May 2020
With social media being used widely within young people in relation to election, this enabled them to gain knowledge and share their opinion on the issues that matters to them ‘young people are using it more to share opinions and information about social and political issue’ (Booth et al., 2020).
Improvements for near future? I suggest that young people should be taught ‘Citizenship’ curriculum across the whole year and should be involved in different type of activities to increase their awareness!
Bibliography:
Ballard, J., 2019. Teens use these social media platforms the most | YouGov. [online] Today.yougov.com. Available at: <https://today.yougov.com/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2019/10/25/teens-social-media-use-online-survey-poll-youth> [Accessed 20 February 2021].
Bellinger, S., 2017. Why don’t young people vote?. [Blog] BLOGS, UK YOUNG AMBASSADORS, Available at: <https://www.byc.org.uk/blog/why-dont-young-people-vote> [Accessed 23 February 2021].
Booth, R., Tombaugh, E., Kiesa, A., Lundberg, K. and Cohen, A., 2020. Young People Turn to Online Political Engagement During COVID-19. [online] Circle.tufts.edu. Available at: <https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/young-people-turn-online-political-engagement-during-covid-19> [Accessed 23 February 2021].
Ipsos.com. 2019. How the voters voted in the 2019 election. [online] Available at: <https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2019-12/general-election-2019-poll-aggregate-v8.pdf> [Accessed 23 February 2021].
Keating, A. and Melis, G., 2017. Social media and youth political engagement: Preaching to the converted or providing a new voice for youth?. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 19(4), p.877.
Sheffield Hallam University, 2017. Are young people disengaged from Politics?.
Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1tCNlAItdU> [Accessed 21 February 2021].
White, C., Bruce, S. and Ritchie, J., 2000. Young people’s politics Political interest and engagement amongst 14–24 year olds. [online] Jrf.org.uk. Available at: <https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/1859353096.pdf> [Accessed 23 February 2021].
March 24, 2021 at 6:02 pm
This is a great blog! I really like how from the start you’ve focused on one topic, social media.
I enjoy how you exemplify the uses social media can have right from the start. I personally think it is so crazy how far social media has come in the decade or so we have been using it. I think back to how I got Facebook so I could play Farmville (LOL) and now social media can be used as a way to make systemic change around the world. I really like how you bring this back to examples like BLM. It is such a crazy thought.
Do you think social media is a good and effective way for young people to learn? I personally think it is as either way teenagers are going to spend time scrolling so why not make it informative! But I do see how damaging some things on social media can be. I definitely think it’s a fine line to draw on what’s good on social media and what is bad as it just differs for so many people.
As people with less political backgrounds are less likely to engage with politics do you think that maybe social media gives an equal opportunity for everyone from any background to learn or do you think the young people with a political foundation are the ones who are engaging on social media as well?
Thanks for letting me be a part of this conversation 😊
April 19, 2021 at 5:32 pm
Hi Miranda,
Thank you so much for taking your time to read my blog! I am really glad that you have enjoyed reading my blog! 🙂
Yes I agree with you in regards to using social media few years back compared to now- isn’t it crazy how time changes quick? First, we used to have social media to keep up with our friends; play games; read about celebrities and more- but now social media is all about what is happening in the society and how it affects us (such as BLM, protest)!
That is a really good question that you have raised about using social media! :D. I believe that social media, from my point of view, we have to use it carefully. Yes, we use it to keep up with our friends, post stories and share news which is useful to our ‘followers’ and ‘friends’. But there are some times where people misuse it, I often tell myself this ‘young people should be taught on the right usage of social media’. This way, for example, when it comes to voting- then young people will have knowledge and share their voices and spread the word about voting or the issues that matters the most.
Finally, thank you for reading my blog! Hope to see you around 🙂