Politician's Are Not Celebrities

The Dangerous Interaction Between Politics, Teens, and Media

The Facebook of Generation Z is TikTok. It is where teens and young adults access most of their news and information in small 15-second videos about many different topics. You can learn about predicted fashion trends, whether or not we are returning to school after our 2-week break, the newest medical phenomenon, and politics. It may seem like a blessing in some cases, as teens will have the ability to keep up with the country they live in. But this introduces a new problem. Teens tend to be the audience and the speakers. We tend to forget that the news we receive may be surface-level or biased. Teens get on the app and ‘stan’ politicians, telling other teens that this politician is great because of XYZ. It eliminates personal research about who the politician is outside of social media. The glorification of Politicians in the media is a dangerous practice that can lead to giving power to the wrong people.

Teens are the future of the world. This statement is used as bait to reel us into politics and encourage us to get informed. Due to the confusing language in politics, acquiring facts is difficult, and causes us to look at different outlets.

TikTok then gives us the information we desire while eliminating the tedious step of personal research. It is even better when the video is created by a teen, bringing in a relatability aspect that cannot be incorporated with politicians. But these informative teens will start to glorify politicians and elevate their popularity amongst teens, creating a false perception of their ideas. Teens forget that these people are powerful lawmakers who will implement laws they believe are correct, not celebrities in an action movie. They have a massive impact on our lives. As voters and citizens, we must determine whether their impact is great or damaging. Forgoing political ignorance will draw the line and potentially eliminate this issue.

Some may argue that this is the same as placing a bumper sticker on a car, but these videos on TikTok are far more capable of achieving severe levels.

Teens influence teens. We are more prone to believe the truth that spells our peers than 50-year-olds bragging about themselves. Teens unite and take small bits of information they believe are factual and created to improve our lives and make it the politician’s entire personality. Based on one comment, a teen can misinterpret that a politician is a feminist who will make choices that prioritize women's health, leading to them stanning the politician and helping to cultivate a mass following for them based on a lone statement that may not be accurate at all. Preventing this can be done by effectively educating yourself, exploring what topics and issues are important to you, then finding a politician that cares as much as you.

Neglecting to inform yourself of politics through outside factual sources causes ignorance that may lead to supporting bills that are detrimental to the progress of the United States. Accountability is crucial when picking the people who run our country. We can achieve this by finding unbiased news outlets that neglect opinion and bias. Teens should look to news outlets such as ‘The Associated Press’ and ‘Wall Street Journal’.

Teens ourselves are not ignorant. We are just all united because of our similarities and beliefs. We all believe we have our best interests at heart, but outsiders are driving us into the unknown without any information. Teens are the way of the future. We are intelligent, capable, and the next generation of leaders who can instill change. Until we can get into office, our responsibility is to keep our country going with our votes. Every vote can make a better impact if we educate ourselves and distance ourselves from the lies snake within politics.