
Study Finds the Internet Makes Youth More Engaged Citizens - acconrad
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/study_finds_the_internet_makes_youth_more_engaged.php
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JonnieCache
_> what has been a longstanding stereotype: youth are largely apolitical._

I think the only people who have been saying this are those who haven't been
young for such a long time they have lost their contact with 'the youth'.

I'm 23, and throughout my life pretty much everyone I've known around my age
has been highly politicised. People from all walks of life.

The key fact is that political disengagement/disillusionment != political
apathy.

Just because people may not be engaged in activism and may not even vote, does
not mean they are not politically aware and in possession of opinions. It is
foolish to assume that these people would not be willing to vote or take part
in activism in _any_ political climate, just that they don't want to in the
current one. This is something dictators are finding out to their cost.

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jbooth
They're talking about the voting demographics.. that's a matter of fact, not
perception. 2008 was an exceptional year for youth and it still lagged older
demographics in turnout rate: <http://ck37.com/voter-registration-and-
turnout-1996-2008>

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alexophile
The real story here, IMO is not that the _internet_ creates more engaged
citizens, but that _being interested in something_ encourages civic
engagement. [edit: not to say the internet doesn't increase engagement, it
certainly does, but that's an obvious and uninteresting conclusion]

The idea seems to be to compare civic participation that's driven by [social v
political v interest] factors and, from what I can tell, it appears that
people who have hobbies and use the internet to build community around their
interests are more likely to foster a stronger community in the physical
world, whereas people who participate online out of political motivations tend
to only increase political participation (e.g. campaign involvement.)

From the study: "Among all the predictors included, parental involvement,
strength of ideology, college student status, and political interest were
found to be strong and consistent predictors of increased politically driven
online participation. Particularly strong, however, was interest-driven
participation (B = .59, p < .001). The entry of interest-based participation
in Model 2 accounted for an additional 19.1% (= 48.2%–29.1%) of explained
variance in politically driven participation."
[[http://ypp.dmlcentral.net/sites/all/files/publications/Onlin...](http://ypp.dmlcentral.net/sites/all/files/publications/OnlineParticipatoryCultures.WORKINGPAPERS.pdf)]

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ecounysis
This does not surprise me. In the dark ages, before the proliferation of
internet usage, the only real source for information was newspapers, and most
youth don't read newspapers. The primary sources of information for them were
TV and radio and friends, which do not cover current events and news as deeply
as newspapers. But with twitter, facebook, and all the other online sources,
they can see and feel what is happening to real people all around the world.
It is almost as if their social circles have expanded beyond their schools and
neighborhoods, so now they care much more about what happens to their comrades
abroad.

