With the rise of social media, it is now easier than ever to connect with people, but that comes with downsides. For example, 31 percent of teens that use social media have fought with a friend over something that has happened online, and this rise of social media has also led to a rise in social isolation in users. This has a negative effect on day-to-day life, one section of American society that has also been effected is our politics.
In a new study from the Pew Research Center, 23 percent of young people (18-29) said they’ve changed their opinion on a political issue based off something they saw on social media in the past year. The effect of social media regarding politics is even more profound on young men, where 29 percent of that group has had an opinion change based off of something seen on social media.
Let’s face it, we live in a world driven by sound bites. Millennials and Generation Z refuse to dig deeper, and would rather make our judgments based off of one headline we see on Facebook or a five-second clip we hear on Twitter than read an article, look at statistics, read a study, and form our opinions based on facts.
Unfortunately, this may have a devastating effect on our politics. When politics becomes less about who is correct on policy, and more about who can create a better story or sound bite, our government could start going downhill.
For example, look at young people and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians simply present their story in a more appealing way to young people. They create a story of a victimized people that are being unjustly killed and oppressed by the brutal, evil state of Israel. Why do young Americans buy this narrative? Because of our sound-bite culture. A simple headline with a death count and no context is all that’s needed to sway one’s opinion.
I’m not saying that every time someone changes their opinion based on social media it will lead them down a destructive path, but what I am saying is that our politics will become less merit-based and more propaganda-based.
Young people are mostly liberal, possibly because of the sound-bite culture. Yes, throughout history, young people have tended to have a liberal slant. But consider that only 9 percent of both Republican men and women have had their views change based on social media, while 21 percent of Democratic men and 14 percent of Democratic women have.
Although I understand these numbers are probably not huge in the grand scheme of things regarding how people’s ideologies line up, it is still important to realize that social media and the sound-bite culture result in people who just say appealing things to win, and that could be part of the reason to why young people are so fervent in their Democratic support. They are the party of entitlements, guaranteed jobs, free healthcare, and an increased minimum wage. Who wouldn’t want that? Nobody.
That is, until you dig deeper — but the issue is that so many people are not, which is clear in these findings.
Jack Elbaum is a high school student at Highland Park High School in Illinois.
