<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655737504180,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655737504180,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54610472", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1027584"} }); ","_id":"00000181-81a3-ddb6-a5eb-c9b3d3f90000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedThis is the age of technology. It is foreign to the younger generation to live in a world without it.
Twitter has become the primary way many people communicate their political viewpoints. Yet the younger generation seems to stray away from politics on Twitter.
According to a recent report by Pew Research Center, one-third of tweets made are political.
This should come as no surprise. Those who are politically driven hop on Twitter to kindle the fire that rages on in threads. However, what is interesting to note is that the younger generation is not leading those numbers. In fact, they seem to be disinterested in Twitter’s politics.
“Those ages 50 and older produce 78% of all political tweets from U.S. adults,” PRC reports.
This could be due to the lack of access this generation had to technology when they were young, prompting a majority of them to stay active. Despite their high involvement on Twitter, they are more likely to retweet someone else than draft an original tweet presenting an opinion.
PRC’s report continues, “Roughly four-in-ten retweets (44%) and quote tweets (42%) from these users were found to pertain to politics. But that share falls to 26% for replies — and to just 8% for original tweets.”
The fast-paced nature of Twitter encourages them to retweet those they agree with, but the difference in numbers of retweets versus original tweets shows that those retweets speak for them. Rather than formulating their own thoughts and opinions, they are merely parroting others. Though that is the nature of Twitter, one should still be carefully observant of who and what they are retweeting.
“Americans ages 50 and older make up 24% of the U.S. adult Twitter population but produce nearly 80% of all political tweets,” PRC reports. “And 36% of the tweets produced by the typical (median) U.S. adult Twitter user age 50 or older contain political content, roughly five times the share (7%) for the tweets from the typical 18- to 49-year-old.”
Twitter can be a politically hostile environment. Young people go on social media to relax and turn their brains off as they mindlessly scroll through Instagram and TikTok. Twitter can be an emotionally draining political thread of attacks, and the younger generation doesn’t seem to prioritize that on social media, especially on Twitter.
Esther Wickham is a summer 2022 Washington Examiner fellow.
