‘The moral panic about young people being slavish followers of untruthful news is way off the mark,’ according to a study by political researchers. ‘In many cases, they are better informed and receive more balanced news than politically slanted newspaper readers.’
Researchers Shuab Gamote and Peter Hyman interviewed over 700 students aged 16-18 in 60-90 minute workshops within 10 schools, to gather their views following the change of law that will allow 16 and 17-year olds to vote for the first time in the next UK general election.
The argument that young people are better-informed than newspaper readers comes from the finding that, while many interviewees said they get most of their news from social media, many of them also watch the news with their parents, subscribe to BBC news alerts, and look for more information online about stories that interest them.
The researchers argue: ‘You could easily make the case that the sixty-year-old whose main source of news is the Daily Telegraph is getting a far more slanted daily diet than the 16-year-old, who is grazing many media outlets and is fact checking and piecing together a set of differing views.’
Among other findings from the research was that ‘Andrew Tate does not have a hold on young people’, and that, while many young men are drawn to ‘self-improvement’ content online, including from the manosphere, their interests incorporate a broad range of influencers.
Some findings were more expected, with the researchers saying that ‘pornography is as big a problem as social media’ and ‘mainstream politicians are not communicating effectively with young people’.
Many of the young people surveyed, however, said they were ‘looking to get off social media and do something more real’, and the report quotes a young woman: ‘This is the first time I have admitted to a wider group that I don’t have a mobile phone and I’m proud of that’.
Content creators with high energy, like MrBeast, were found to have a significant draw for young people, with one of the students saying: ‘You can’t fake intensity in videos’. The researchers elaborated: ‘That’s what sticks. Not the policy. Not the press release. But the feeling of speed, scale and endless stimulation. And young people from 10 upwards get hooked.’
The discussion of authenticity, in the context of politicians, celebrities, and even young people’s views on the future, was one of the best-evidenced in the study. Some areas, such as discussions of OnlyFans and cancel culture in schools, seemed less well-established from the quotes given. Indeed, when talking about OnlyFans, one young man’s quote on how women his age view the platform is apparently taken as accurate: ‘OnlyFans models are role models now for young girls. They can just take a picture and whack it online and make 50 quid’. Other comments from young women are shared later, but none confirm this idea of OnlyFans creators as ‘role models’.
When discussing cancel culture in schools, as well, the researchers provide only one quote from a student, saying that they have had ‘the Andrew Tate assembly’, but conclude confidently that ‘schools have become scared of debating thorny issues and teachers shut them down too quickly’.
One area that is well-evidenced is the five archetypes which researchers argue this cohort of young people can be divided into: the connector, the activist, the entrepreneur, the critical realist and the traditionalist. 75% of the students surveyed ‘felt the archetypes were “very accurate” or “somewhat accurate”’, although many pointed out that few people would fit perfectly into any one of these categories alone.
The largest group was the activist, which more than a fifth of 214 young people asked about these archetypes said is closest to fitting them. Researchers described this archetype as ‘driven, principled and deeply empathetic’, someone who ‘cycles to school rain or shine because [they see] climate action as part of [their] daily life’ and ‘channels [their] frustration into action’ by ‘campaigning to make [their] school more sustainable or organising local food bank drives’.
The next largest group was the critical realist at 19.6%, who is ‘is observant and deeply sceptical’, ‘spends a lot of time online, often scrolling through meme pages, Reddit threads and alternative news accounts’, and ‘feels like the world is full of hypocrisy and that most people in power are out of touch or outright corrupt’.
Third came the 18.7% of young people who identified with the archetype of the connector. The connector is described as ‘vibrant and social and always in the loop’, someone whose world is ‘fast-paced and driven by moments of connection and self expression’.
The second smallest group was the entrepreneur, representing 11.2% of young people who are ‘ambitious and forward-thinking’ and ‘already looking for ways to work around [the system]’. These young people are ‘more likely to quote Steven Bartlett than a political leader and [see] Elon Musk as flawed but aspirational.’
The smallest group at 10.7% was the traditionalist, representing young people who are ‘calm, grounded and reflective’ and prefer ‘old school values’ over ‘trendy ideologies’, often speaking about ‘the importance of respect for community and national identity’.
However, 17.3% of young people still answered that none of these categories was close to fitting them.
Image from Pixabay on Pexels.