America’s political discourse is increasingly shaped by people who live more online than offline. Think of the stereotype of the person who only plays video games and lives in their mom’s basement; yeah, like that. Internet culture consisting of memes, stan behavior and cancel cycles is warping civic engagement, flattening nuance and turning serious policy debates into fandom wars. So is our generation actually more politically active, or just terminally logged on?
If you’ve ever doom-scrolled through TikTok, Instagram Reels, or any other social media app, you’ve probably come across the people who speak the most about politics, yet their opinions are just a repetition of what the viral political statement is at the moment. These “activists” parrot the loudest voices without ever diving deeper into the issues themselves. They tend to have opinions on politicians but fail to answer specifics on what they like or do not like about the politician’s agenda, etc.
Nuance is often lost in this age of internet political activism. The internet doesn’t reward careful analysis rooted in actual research and becoming knowledgeable on a topic; it rewards immediate, unreliable responses. When complex issues are boiled down to 15-second videos or catchy phrases in a single tweet, it’s easy to see how well-intentioned political discourse devolves into oversimplification. A meme can encapsulate an entire argument, but it rarely leaves room for the kind of detailed discussion that real policy issues demand.
I think a great example of these types of people are the people you’ll see trying to debate Dean Withers on social media. Dean Withers is a 20-year-old political influencer who despite being so young is very knowledgeable on politics, law and policies. People call in to his livestreams and debate him and a lot of the viral clips you’ll see are from the chronically online people who have more confidence than they actually do knowledge.
Political engagement on the internet has become disconnected from real-world impact. It’s more about getting likes, rage-baiting, causing chaos and getting reposts than it is about actually making a change by voicing your opinion.
