“Mom, seriously, can we turn off the news channel for just 30 minutes? I’m so tired of it.”
When I’m at home, this is a common lament of mine. My parents are both politically savvy. They watch primarily news-related television, read the newspaper, and keep up with issues daily. At home, they discuss politics with each other.
I, meanwhile, refresh my Twitter feed or read a blog about baseball. They can’t be blamed for my complete distaste toward anything political. Nor can my friends, who frequently discuss the upcoming election and issues in their respective communities. I think they’re a little embarrassed when I — after they list CNN, the BBC or The New York Times as favorite methods to obtain news — say, “Unless it’s on the Food Network, ESPN, or referenced in ‘Parks and Recreation,’ I probably haven’t heard of it.”
It’s not that I haven’t tried to be politically passionate. I have turned on news channels, or started to read the political section of the newspaper. An hour later, I wake up, and the people on television are still arguing about the same thing, or my paper is wrinkled and I have newsprint on my face, and I feel like I’ve gained nothing from the experience. Listening to pundits banter for hours is fascinating for some people, but I can’t find the interest to voluntarily engage in it.
I already feel pretty out of place in my circle of friends and with my family because of this, and in light of the Occupy movement I’ve started to worry that something might be wrong with me. The last thing I occupied was a spot on the couch, and the last thing I took to the Internet to protest against was a basketball-related issue on campus.
A Pew Research Center report from earlier this month suggests I’m not the only young person who doesn’t have an interest in politics, though. Only 20 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 30 say they are following the election news “very closely,” down 11 percent compared to January before the 2008 election.
The same report mentions that only 30 percent of young people feel like they are learning something from their primary sources of news, those being the Internet and cable news networks. Furthermore, only 13 percent say they enjoy campaign news “a lot,” while 24 percent say they don’t enjoy it at all. So, not only do young people seem to care less about this election, but a majority of them also feel like they aren’t learning anything about it when they do seek out news sources. I’d say that sums up how I feel pretty well.
“To me, it’s not about having passion for it that should drive you; it’s about civic responsibility,” says one of my friends. She also enjoys political discussions, and feels like she gains a lot out of them. But as a political science minor, she is already passionate about the subject. There needs to be an element of enthusiasm for me to actively seek out and engage in political inquiry.
I think that I and the other 24 percent of millennials who said they dislike campaign news are capable of having that passion. We could get excited about politics, and most of us probably will in the future. As we mature and our priorities change, the political issues we don’t care about right now will become more pertinent, but for now it’s a difficult topic in which to find an abiding interest.
Emily Bullard of Lakewood is a sophomore at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
