One aspect of the 2008 elections that has been bothering me is that young people seem to be the main focus. What about older generations, like our parents and grandparents? Don’t their votes count also?
It is acceptable to say that the majority of internet users are generally young. As I have stated in a previous entry, the internet has only been around for a few decades. When our grandparents were our age, the internet was not something they had access to in order to gain information. They relied heavenly on books, radio, and face-to-face communication, as sources of news.
The idea of social networking sites is pretty foreign to older generations. You don’t see grandparents exited about Twitter and Facebook. “Overall, more than a quarter of those younger than age 30 (27%) – including 37% of those ages 18-24 – have gotten campaign information from social networking sites. This practice is almost exclusively limited to young people; just 4% of Americans in their 30s, and 1% of those ages 40 and older, have gotten news about the campaign in this way” (Internet’s Boarder, 2008). The whole concept of a digital campaign is not going to appeal to older people. It is clear that during the course of the 2008 Presidential campaign strategies, traditional approaches were thrown out the window to pave the way for new technology. That is partly because the internet is so inexpensive! It is virtually free to create a MySpace or Facebook in order to portray your message. Traditional approaches such as printing pamphlets and making phone calls to swing voters can be pricey for candidates to do. I am nervous that as technology increasingly becomes for advanced, older voters will be left behind.
Resources:
http://people-press.org/report/384/
I think the divide between the computer literate and the not-computer literate is something that needs more attention. People are living longer and fast changing technology has become increasingly more important. It's upsetting to know that I am able to skype with my mother, but she can't skype with her mother.
ReplyDeleteThe digital divide is strange to look at. Its hard to imagine people who are not like me and my friends who are on the Internet and such daily. It is also weird to see the percentages go down for newspapers and television with each passing election. Our children may never see an actual newspaper at this rate!
ReplyDeleteI agree that there was a huge divide during this election, but on a positive note - the candidates reached out to the younger crowd and got younger voters extremely passionate and involved for once.
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