By Teresa Fang / April 8, 2024
Many young people lament the polarized national politics we are set to inherit. But are we worthy of lamenting when we don’t even care about local politics first?
I am a product of what I know as journalism and Chapel Hill civics. I worry less about the health of US democracy than I do about the deteriorating health of interest in it. Too many times have I heard a fellow high schooler voice their opinion about a recent national policy, but when confronted, they stare and cite a TikTok influencer or a popular podcaster. This response is exaggeratedly worse for local politics; local political apathy tears young people from reality and sets a precedent for misinformation.
I single out social media as one of the largest facilitators of political apathy. A survey from Gallup reports that over half of US teens (ages 13-19) spend a minimum of four hours on social media every day. That’s four hours of being exposed to conformity influences, from beauty standards to cancel culture to the polarization of national politics. With social media becoming ever increasingly accessible, anyone can exercise their laws of free speech on social media while the consequences of spreading baseless claims become nigh invisible.
Anyone can complain about an issue, but can just anyone change anything about said issue? People may be knowledgeable on national politics, but if a citizen has concerns about a bus route or stormwater runoff, their representative in Congress can’t help them. But their local town council member can. If a student notices a decrease in the quality of their education at a public school, that’s just an observation supporting the recent national trend. If that student notices a difference in education at their school relative to other schools in the district, then that’s a different story.
Local politics impacts day-to-day lives. If young people can change our nation’s future, why don’t we try paying closer attention to our town first?