The Young Revolution?

In recent years, I believe more young people have become engaged with political and issues around the world, like climate change, Brexit and Trump. I wonder, is this being stirred by hardening lines on both the left and right which means the young want to be in the centre.

Recently, the young have become engaged over climate change and the youth strike has just entered its tenth month. These strikes are now around a year old, started by Greta Thunberg they have sparked a movement across the world.

There has been the long-held belief that young people don’t turn out in elections, at the 2016 referendum, the 18-24 bracket was around 64% which is quite high, as compared to the 2015 and 2017 General Election which was around 40% to 50%.

While only a modest increase, the fact remains the same we know that older people are more likely to vote than young people, something that has always been the case in Britain and other countries. At the time of writing, analysis of the EU elections wasn’t published.

In my view, I believe that young people are less conservative and more liberal with there views and that means they are less likely to vote for the two main parties. Brexit has also I believed played a roll, just over 80% of 17 to 24 year old would vote to remain, if under 44-year-olds all voted it could be a very different picture. (May-July 2018 BBC poll four average polls by Survation excludes don’t knows)

The results of the EU Elections, (excluding Labour and Conservatives), put anti-Brexit ahead of pro-Brexit by 5.5%.

Away from politics, I believe in the community we are becoming more vocal, but the lack of time makes it more difficult for young people to engage with local communities because they are busy trying to make a living.

The internet I believe has also played a big roll, both good and bad, it allowed these messages to spread and catch people out. Sharing messages of similar experiences, views and options are I believe what is the drive for change. It’s free and that can allow people to connect. This proves pivotal in the Arab Spring and more generally in elections.

Social media has been a big part of what’s trends, take the Ice Bucket Challenge and other crazies. It allows for connections and a following to be built by young and build a platform for sharing ideas, building networks to share information.

But we must always ask who is behind the content? is it being said by anyone else? Are they known either locally by an organisation? And who are reporting it?

A question going forwards I believe will be how do we build long term trust in these platforms? As recent scandals involving Cambridge Analytica and Facebook exposed. To me having studied IT and business it wasn’t really a surprise.

I feel our values as young people are shaped by education, now most disabled people now in mainstream education, we mix through what we are interested in.

I believe people like myself who have reached adulthood since the global recession have it harder. There aren’t many trades in manufacturing anymore, the way we work has changed partly due to technology and the ability to work flexibility.

Our generation is the first to not have to fight for things like equal pay and marriage. There I believe is generally no sigma with most people now, however, there are some exceptions from say ultra conservative families and people who have been radicalised.

Another area driving change is the way we watch programmes, growth in services like Netflix have driven changing viewing patterns it shifts towards more on demand only big events, like sports and big news stories, viewers tend to rise.

The 2018 World Cup Semi Final saw 26.5m viewers, excluding streaming and OD services, the highest peak audience recorded since the London 2012 Closing Ceremony, with roughly 40 per cent of the whole population of the UK at one point turned into the football. This excludes public screenings.

There might still be a place for linear services in the future for these big events, rolling news channels when major stories break, and we still see people tuning in for these big dramas like Bodyguard, Doctor Who and Christmas day.

That again plays into social media, it has a roll in spreading the most watched programmes, as well as personal reflections on the stories in the media, as it shapes the debate. Social media has its downsides, trolling ranting by Donald Trump has highlighted this.

I once heard some great analysis of the political situation; some believe that young people are going to be less likely to join a party and focus on single issues. This maybe because we have more access to information and what harms traditional politics.

The establishment needs to be aware of this change, and as we begin to enter the next decade. What happens when we get to a point when party membership across the board starts to decline. We need to ask is proportional representation fit for purpose, rather than the first pass the post system.

This would create more opportunities the smaller parties, avoiding situations where parties can get a huge share of the popular overall vote, which don’t translate into seats. This would lead to the smaller parties getting more seats but decreases the possibility of majority governments.

The young need to vote more, it’s a well known that youth turn out is lower compared to the older population. Revolution, I was taught at school meant ‘glorious change’.

The last decade as I wrote earlier this year, has been one of the teenage years of the century and the long term impacts of that are yet to be felt…