Scholars Work
GEN Z VOTER REFLECTION
It’s going to be very interesting to see how Generation Z affects this election. Typically, young voters don’t turn to the polls in large numbers. But it wouldn’t shock me if Gen Z changed this pattern. We really are the first generation to grow up with such vast technology readily available to us. The year I was in Kindergarten was the year the first iPhone was made. By the time I was in 4th or 5th grade, a lot of my classmates had iPhones. And by the time I got to middle school, everybody had an iPhone and was on social media. All this technology exposed to information that most past generations of young people didn’t see and made us more aware of our surroundings.
There’s a lot of activism that takes place on social media platforms. Although I’m skeptical of how effective this kind of activism truly is, I do think it may make a lot of Gen Z more motivated to vote. Also, that this election is being billed as one of the most important one’s in country’s history will inspire people of all ages to get out and vote. It wouldn’t surprise me if voter turnout is just up in general.
Given that Gen Z only makes up 7% of the electorate, it’s hard to say how much of impact we’ll have on the election. If we come out in larger numbers than what young people usually do, then we could have a bigger impact than expected. With that being said, like most past generations of young people, Gen Z’ers are overwhelmingly progressive. We’re not really a contested demographic. The Democratic party knows they’ll be able to secure the Gen Z vote. What it really comes down to is them trying to motivate as many Gen Z’ers as possible to get to the polls. The Republican party knows that they don’t typically win over as many young people, therefore we’re not a group they focus on as much.
All in all, it’s very important for Gen Z to get out and vote. We may be a small fraction of the electorate, and we may overwhelmingly vote a certain way, but we’re the next generation of Americans who can make a difference in this country – and that starts with this election.
GEN Z SOCIAL MEDIA CHALLENGE
Why I chose these assignments
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Both of these Scholars assignments meant a lot to me, particularly because of the time that we are in. This year was a crazy year -- the pandemic already assured that would be, and the election only added to it. Thus, I wanted to choose two of my scholars assignments that focused on the 2020 election and Gen Z voting.
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I was very fascinated by the articles we read and the video we watched on the role Gen Z might play in the 2020 election. Overall, I thought my Gen Z voter reflection did a good job of analyzing the interesting voter electorate that is Gen Z. Given that we are only about 7% of the electorate, I was skeptical of how much of a role we would play in the election. But our influence seems bigger than 7% because of all the social media content Gen Z produces -- on Instagram, Tik Tok, or Snapchat. Even if we may have not greatly swayed the election one way or the other, Gen Z tended to vote for Biden and probably helped secure his victory. Overall, I wanted to showcase my Gen Z voter reflection because I think it is interesting to look at in light of the election results.
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For the Social Media assignment, I chose to showcase my Gen Z voter challenge video. I did this because I liked the video as sort of a light, but important message on why Gen Z should vote. And now that the election is over, it is interesting to look back on what I said about the importance of Gen Z voting. In my video, I stressed that it is important for Gen Z to vote because we are the next generation of Americans that can make our voices heard in this country. Although I still believe that statement I made is true, I've come to realize that we already have managed to make out voices be heard. Gen Z was a part of record voting turnout in this election. Typically, younger people don't come out to vote as much but Gen Z is proving to be an exception. As I look back on my video, I recognize even more so the importance of voting and hope that Gen Z will continue to participate in American democracy well into the future.