Media Use, Political Knowledge, Participation
Matures and Boomers
- Strong correlation between multiple news media use, knowledge, and voting in the 1993 and 1997 elections.
Gen Xers
- Patterns were similar, but less powerfully correlated with knowledge and voting patterns.
Canadian National Elections Survey data, 1993-1997
Notes:
If, as I’ve argued, this is a media generation, what gives?
Theory (confirmed by my research) shows that The more one consumes media, the more one is knowledgeable, and the more one participates.
Correlations between three go in the same direction with Gen X, but the correlations are much less powerful.
Are we witnessing a politically disengaged youth? What does all this mean to the future of democracy? Is my generation becoming numbed and unresponsive due to apathy and entertainment overload? Are we that distracted?
Answer lies in how they use media and the news, and how these new uses are affecting our democratic system.
No doubt, in my interviews, that a cynicism against “the system” is out there...