Teja.
Global Moderator
Yeah, a big part of that is our disproportionately high usage of the internet, I think. A lot of us live on the internet while the internet is a means to an end for most older folk. Back when they were young, if they wanted to learn about say the Israel-Palestine conflict, aside from memey coverage on TV, they would have to get an actual book, which would require them to be academically inclined, which most people aren’t. Now, I can surf the web for an hour and get a superficial understanding of both sides of the argument as well as three different conspiracy theories regarding sharia, jew world order etc. This reason doesn’t adaquetly explain our lack of interest in local politics though.
Further, I’ve noticed that my parent’s interest in politics is largely pragmatic, they are looking for what they are getting out of voting for someone. My dad has intense phone debates with friends about what the pros and cons of political parties are, not from a universal moral checklist POV but strictly from a personal cost-benefit perspective. Accordingly, they tend to be a lot more interested in politics which directly effects them. This is in opposition to the majority of our generation that is trying to operate under some vague understanding of what is good for the country as a whole.
If you want to be optimistic about our generation, you could say that our generation is less selfish about who they vote for, but on the other hand, the invisible hand approach that my parents follow at least ensures that they’re actually evaluating the benefits of policies critically (even if through purely self-interest) as opposed to a subjective moral assessment which can lead to huge amounts of bias depending on the messenger and the political mood.
Another reason could be that people in the previous generation were considerably more patriotic and considered themselves responsible stakeholders of the country’s future and genuinely cared about local politics because a larger part of their identity was invested in being a citizen. However, the emotional investment in patriotism has crashed for millennials (which is not a bad thing). Thus, when we aren’t really highly invested emotionally in our community, given that there is some or the other super sensational political event happening across the world every week, there is no reason for us not to follow that instead of the everyday back and forth of local politics which we vote on. (which is a bad thing)
I can’t speak for everyone but in my family’s case, politics has gone from being deadly serious survival strategy to srs bsns in one generation.
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