Benifits

How does social media boosts young people's engagement towards politics and voting?

Social media isn't all bad and manipulative, it can show people things they won't see on the news or other platforms. Young people, ages 13 to 25 use social media as their main sorce of news

"The biggest thing that's going on right now is Gaza. That's been very heavy on social media, and that's probably, like, the strongest source of information just because there's so much information coming from that. And then I don’t see it as much in the news."

- Stacey, 21, liberal

"[Social media] has shown me things that I wouldn't normally be able to get access to without social media. Like Palestine and Israel, would I have known about that if it wasn’t for media sources?"

- David, 17, moderate

Social media makes young people more engaged and informed in politics and democracy, but young people also don't fully trust what they see and hear on social media, this lack of trust creates a barrier between politics and future generations that are looking to vote.

"As much as I love social media and TikTok and all that stuff, I don't think that that's often the best-unless you have really good social media literacy. I just can't see that being the best place to, like, gather and consume information."

- Ava, 22, liberal