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Coronavirus Impact On Youth Activism

COVID-19 Impact on Youth Activism

For much of 2020, the world has struggled getting COVID-19 under control, which has resulted in most youth and teens having to stay at home. Under lockdown, many young people have been spending time on social media in order to learn more about issues- from global climate change to police brutality towards Black people and other people of color. These are issues that were often not taught about in depth in school. Through self-education, young people were able to view events such as a string of police murders of Black Americans in real time, and many used their unprecedented free time and social media skills to learn about systemic racism and police brutality, in hopes of making a difference. 

The issues of race are not new, or course. In addition, youthful idealists have a long history of using protests and activism to promote positive change. What has changed in 2020? COVID-19 has forced youth to stay indoors. Without the busy schedules of school and extracurriculars has allowed youth to intensify their activism using social media platforms as well as read the news. ”Following the death of George Floyd, who was killed on May 25 in Minneapolis at the hand of a white police officer, the Black Lives Matter movement has gained a tremendous following,….”(Lensik)  Youth and teens under stay-at-home orders, quarantine, or without access to protests in their communities, have also found a way to stay engaged, educate themselves as well as educate their friends and family. 

In other parts of the world, youth activists have turned their attention to other issues of global importance such as climate change. Climate change activists have used social media tools to advance their agenda, and to influence public opinion. “#Climatestrike has become #climatestrikeonline following a call from youth activist Greta Thunberg for climate strikers to take to the internet and not the streets during the COVID-19 pandemic.”(Pelter). Because of the changing conditions a new hashtag was created to encourage activists to acknowledge the dangers of protests in pertaining to COVID-19 and take their protests indoors. 

The social media activism has allowed youth to be more involved in policy making and governing in their communities. Petitions have been signed globally to bring justice to victims or police brutality, and awareness to climate related issues. Gen Z has also realized the role they have in the upcoming United States 2020 election. “…one-in-ten eligible voters will be members of Generation Z…”(cilluffo).

 

Twitter has been a platform for activists to share their stories.

Works Cited

 

 Pelter, Zoë. “Pandemic Participation: Youth Activism Online in the COVID-19 Crisis.” UNICEF Office of Global Insight & Policy, 14 Apr. 2020, www.unicef.org/globalinsight/stories/pandemic-participation-youth-activism-online-covid-19-crisis.

January 30, 2019, and Anthony Cilluffo and Richard Fry. “An Early Look at the 2020 Electorate.” Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project, 25 Sept. 2019, www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/an-early-look-at-the-2020-electorate/.

Lesnick, Sydney. “And We Rise.” Global Student Square, 4 Aug. 2020, www.globalstudentsquare.org/the-surprising-impact-of-the-coronavirus-on-youth-activism/.

Rin, Manny. “Student Activists Find New Ways to Organize during COVID-19 Elections.” Student PIRGs, 1 July 2020, studentpirgs.org/2020/07/01/student-activists-find-new-ways-to-organize-during-covid-19-elections/.

 

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96 Comments

  1. I think you bring up some very interesting thoughts in your post. I feel that we are seeing a shift in political activism this year and it feels like a lot of this has to do with the culmination of events that have transpired throughout this year. I am very curious about how many more sixteen to twenty-one year old’s are feeling an obligation to speak up and to continue fighting for the rights of others. When you were researching for this post, did you stumble upon any sort of survey or poll information regarding how many more young people are participating in activism? I would be very curious to see just how many in this generation are feeling the need to participate in politics compared to other generations. I also wonder just how much social media is helping to educate and impassion young people to push harder than ever for change.

  2. I think this is a great blog post – the topic is wonderful! I believe this is very true. I would consider our generation to be pretty active in politics and world issues, but I think that COVID-19 and worldwide lockdowns has definitely given these people more time to dive deeper into these issues. We are a generation that is absolutely engulfed in social media, and it’s very easy to share information and learn about different issues. I agree that since we’ve had more free time, many have taken it upon themselves to learn more about the world and its issues. I think this is a great sign that we may be the generation that has some of the solutions to these pressing problems. I think a lot of us are politically active and are confident in using our voices, which will certainly have a big impact in the future.

  3. Your article captures a short essence of the portrayal of youth activism throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and mentions many instances of change among the youth voice. I think that as the next generation we must uplift our voices for issues that have far long been an issue in this country. COVID-19 has made a huge impact in the world, and the youth are taking this time to use their platform to enhance their voices for which I think that you captivate very well in your blog post. How do you think that youth activism has made an impact upon the upcoming 2020 Presidential Election? How could we improve voter suppression against younger voices to come vote in the fall? And how do you think social media will continue to activate change throughout our country through everyday use? Overall, the uplift of youth activism throughout 2020 has changed many aspects from the perspective of how we view the world today. With much that remains as an issue in the United States as the next generation, we must continue to advocate and use our voices to seek change for a better tomorrow.

  4. This is a great blog that talks about one positive outcome of quarantine. Today’s youth has been more politically active on social media than before. We are all more connected than ever with access to a lot of information. However, we have to consider the dangers of that too. Social media has led to the spread of various rumours. When it comes to important issues such as the BLM protests, and the pandemic, the spread of misinformation could be highly risky. How do we tell facts from rumors? How can we educate ourselves with the right information? Another aspect we could look at is the impact of the youth’s activism on the 2020 election. To what extent has today’s youth impacted the 2020 Election through social media?

  5. This blog post was great and talked about a topic that wasn’t really getting addressed. Being a member of Gen Z myself, I can attest that you can’t go on any platform without seeing some form of activism. One thing that is especially prevalent that wasn’t really mentioned in this post is the huge shift to petitions and gofundmes to help incite and support different aspects of activism. With many young teens radicalizing the internet for social justice, do you believe that we may see activism ‘burnout’? Since like you mentioned, activism amongst teens and young adults has always been happening; change may not happen or atleast to the extent that many people wish for. Especially since the results of this year’s presidential election will not only shift policies going forward, but the Supreme Court as well; there may be a backslide in lots of policies achieved through activism. Overall, I really enjoyed this post and I agreed with all your points, you did a good job of organizing your thoughts and explaining things.

  6. I think this is an excellent point to bring up because I think most people in this class could relate, myself included. Social media, and twitter in particular, seemed extra active throughout the pandemic and was often a place that I could educate myself. The sad reality is that what you see on the news is different that what you see on social media and what really happened. Places like twitter are a good platform for members of a community to rally and rapidly share information. A high school student near me used facebook and twitter to form one of the largest peaceful protests in my area, which is a testament to the power of social media.

  7. I think this is such an important topic! Youth activism takes so many forms and one of those many forms is social media movements which sparks education through social media. Social media, and the internet as a whole, is a form of communication that is native to younger generations. As a result of being indoors more frequently, they’ve had a chance to really organize their ideas and mobilize for causes important to them. Great examples of this include the quickly planned and well executed Black Lives Matter protests as well as the many petitions and informative posts and threads the followed. I agree with your statements about how Gen Z realized the role they play in the upcoming election and in policy making. It’s interesting to see how many people have gotten much more involved and invested in policy change since the start of the pandemic.

  8. Great taste and would love to hear more of your thoughts and research on this! I was fascinated by the findings of a study done by the University of Washington during the George Floyd protests held in Seattle between late May and June that found that among the 3,500 people the University researchers freely tested at the protests less than 1% tested positive for COVID. It seems that we have evidence that youth activists are better and more knowledgeable in at least one regard. Preventing the spread of COVID during mass gatherings.

    Judging by my social feeds the whole “taking to the internet and not the streets” thing as Greta Thunberg described it is definitely a real phenomenon among everyone I know (although tragically, in some regard, almost none of these social media posts are about climate). The Gen Z and Millenial generations do seem more eager to learn and devour every piece of knowledge they can get about social justice issues. I do however fear that being forced online has lead to people being flooded and thinking that everything posted online is real along with the belief that posting is real activism and choosing to focus on that instead of materially organizing their communities. An “online climate strike” for instance is completely meaningless if it doesn’t lead to any boycotts or actual obstruction to the process of work for fossil fuel companies.

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