It can be easy for your youth to be an excuse to avoid scary topics and ideas, but civics affects all ages, so caring about what is happening around you is important.
With the stress of class, extracurriculars, working a job or learning at an internship, the last thing many students want to do when they get home is read the news to add another layer of stress to their life. With so many distractions life is throwing our way, it is easy to want to drown out any unneeded distractions or stress. However, paying attention to current events and engaging in civic activities and advocacy is essential, even in your youth.
U.S. citizens aged 18-25 have held the lowest civic participation rates among recent generations, and there have been many contributing factors to this trend in the past. Among the past four generations in the United States, Generation Z has the highest percentage of voter turnout in their first midterm elections compared to others.
About 28.4% of youth ages 18-24 voted, compared to 23% of millennials in 2006, 23.5% of Generation X in 1990, and even Baby Boomers’ 27.9% turnout in 1974, according to data from the Census Current Population Survey (CPS) Voting and Registration Supplement in 2022.
The excuses of “Why should I care? I’m just a kid.” or “I’ll worry about that later!” seem to haunt youth demographics generation after generation. And though this generation is voting at a higher rate than generations before, the percentage of voter turnout is still shockingly low.
The issues of today may seem like no object to the young generation, but they affect us nonetheless. Even topics that seem far away from your daily life cause ripples into your way of being. Topics that concern life down the road will impact your life one day, and the decisions that are being made today curate your future.
Even topics that do not directly concern you now or later are important to care about and pay attention to. Despite the fact you are not directly affected by this, the ones you love can and will be. So it is important to use your voice!
Many think that age disqualifies the impact of your voice, but just because you’re young doesn’t mean your voice doesn’t matter. When voting, all voices, no matter the age, count the same at the polls. Caring about local elections, national elections and local and national civic matters curates how everything around you is run, so you should use your voice to influence it!
Your youth is not a barrier to involvement but rather an excuse to jump into the deep end. College campuses are a hub for conversation and advocacy. There are many organizations and ongoing efforts around the University that cover a range of issues and opinions. Find something you are passionate about and join the cause. There is no place like higher education to find other like-minded people to work with or counter-minded peers to learn from.
Flexibility in life is at a high level in your youth compared to when you have a large load of responsibilities under your belt. Use this time and flexibility to find your purpose, get involved, and care about your civic participation and involvement.
Kylie Tutterrow is a junior political science major from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Kylie can be reached at [email protected].
