Engaging with an Election

Regardless of age, home state or party affiliation (if any), “politics” is a charged word in 2024. Many, including the media, have instilled in the public the notion that the United States is “more divided than ever,” which has been emphasized by a chaotic election cycle. Between deceptive misinformation and alarming political violence, how are voters supposed to navigate this nuanced landscape? As a first-time voter myself, I can confirm from personal experience the difficulties in interpreting the constant slew of coverage related to this election across platforms. In a sit-down panel interview, I was able to gain the perspectives of Upper School History Department chair Mr. Josh Thomas, AP Government teacher Mrs. Katie Smith and AP Gov. students Gilbert Cooper ’25 and Thomas Ferguson ’25 in regards to the impacts of social media on political news engagement.

How young people interact with political candidates and election-related discourse has drastically changed. As corroborated by the experiences of my aforementioned interviewees and countless studies, members of Generation X are more likely to primarily ingest political news from online newspaper outlets like The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic or The Wall Street Journal. Members of Gen. Z, on the other hand, prefer social media, citing apps they have grown up with like X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and Instagram.

By giving everyone a voice, these platforms tend to create chaos that everyone gets the opportunity to weigh in on. It doesn’t matter if you live in America; it doesn’t matter if you’re a criminal. All that matters is that you have an internet connection. In the words of Mr. Thomas, “You get a mob mentality without actually being in the mob.” It is also important to note that a platform of choice can have dramatic effects on what you are being shown through each algorithm. For example, Instagram is known to be used to spread memes or edited videos, while Facebook can be a more serious forum. Cooper uses X to view prediction-based statistics, but is wary since “a lot of radical views are pretty amplified on Twitter.” 

Regardless, any of these mediums are capable of spreading harmful misinformation, which has only been emphasized by the prioritization of short-form content like TikToks, Youtube Shorts or Instagram Reels. For example, political ads online can have pieces chopped out to deceive the viewer. A clip of Vice President Kamala Harris resurfaced for use in President Donald Trump’s campaign ad, in which Harris said, “Taxes are gonna have to go up.” In reality, she said “estate taxes are gonna have to go up for the richest Americans,” but the splicing of the clip conveyed the opposite message. On the flip side, CBS’s 60 Minutes admitted to editing an interview with Harris in an effort to make answers more concise, sparking questions of authenticity and journalistic integrity.

The influence of social media is undeniable, but to what extent does it make a difference? Is Trump going live on TikTok or is Harris theming her campaign marketing as “brat” doing anything to sway voters in an environment where few deviate from their chosen side? Ferguson argues this idea negatively, citing the effectiveness of social media algorithms. They show who you follow, what those accounts post, and other suggested content, which can disproportionately inflate personal bias on a topic. So, he argues that when users see content different from their point of view, it “push[es] them further to the outskirts of whatever their (preconceived) alignment is.” While it may not have a direct impact on changing views, social network content can make a huge difference in voting turnout. Mr. Thomas argues that the often extreme material promoted by campaigns is a genius way of sparking a reaction from the person seeing it. Instead of trying to convert others, the marketing strategy is to inspire “the disengaged voter” to participate at the polls from frequent online exposure.

The importance of voting in American democracy cannot be overstated. Regardless of how we interact with politics, the most important thing is getting to the polls to exercise our rights in the United States. This is the mission of Upper School students in AP Government, who hosted a voting registration drive earlier this month to encourage registration and pre-registration for upcoming elections. Led by Mrs. Smith, the group of seniors succeeded in getting the registration of (#getting ASAP) new voters. This is just one example of youth positively interacting with politics, in which the often polarizing depths of social media are one piece.