Online Engagement

A 20-something’s perspective

The world as we know it is changing. Everything about it. And we have the vast expanse of the Internet to thank.

Being of the millennial generation, my perspective on this matter has been somewhat skewed. Sure, I can remember a world without email, online banking and YouTube. The trouble is, I was still in grade school when the online revolution really took off, so at most, I think of those “dark ages” in terms of pencil-and-paper pen pal projects and my favorite Spice Girls music videos clumsily recorded off TRL with the VCR. For all intents and purposes, the vehicles of my adult responsibilities (and distractions) haven’t really evolved. They’ve always been online, and I and other 20-somethings have always taken that convenience for granted.

But then I think about my parents’ generation. My mom knows what it was like to really balance the checkbook. My dad, a former teacher, knows what was like to have to send letters home with his students when he had important information for their parents.

Physically showing up at a public meeting to weigh in on things like — say — book bans (“Alright, Buelah, do you wanna step outside?” “FINE.”)?

Yeah, they’ve done that too.

They both know what change the Internet has brought about because they were full-grown adults when it was happening, with the right level of tech-savviness to take advantage. They have an absolute appreciation of that change. And when it comes to involvement in their local government, so do a lot of other people.

THE DIRECTIVE

When President Obama took office, he instituted the Open Government Directive. It stated, “The three principles of transparency, participation and collaboration form the cornerstone of an open government.”

Transparency. Government accountability.

Participation. Real people contributing to policy.

Collaboration. Community members working together with each other and their governments to improve their lives.

It’s that directive that Pew Center researchers with the Pew Internet and American Life Project cite in their study,Government Online, as setting in motion a new trend in government. Almost any interaction that you have on the phone or in person with the government can now happen online.

THE EVOLUTION

Let’s consider again my parents and their generation. In the age of the online citizen, it might be easy to imagine a resistance by some to a seemingly less-people-driven approach. But even now — and one can be pretty certain that we’ve only begun to realize the potential of the Internet — the Pew study found that this ability to interact with government online really matters to people:

67% of American adults feel it is very important for government to provide general information to the public online.
62% think it’s just important for governments to allow people to contact officials on government sites.

So we can talk the talk. “Yes, I most definitely want to be able to send my city councilman an email.” But can we walk the walk? Are Americans taking advantage of increased government accessibility? And are the citizens who reach out digitally being listened to?

Another study in the Pew Internet and American Life Projectsuggests that the civic-minded are having no trouble keeping up with technology. In Civic Engagement in the Digital Age, Pew researchers detail the overall growth in online engagement since the 2008 election:

During the 2008 presidential campaign, 11% of American social networking site (SNS) users said they used these sites to post political news for others to read. During the 2012 election season, that number jumped to 28%.
In that same period in 2008, 13% of SNS users said they had started or joined a group around a political candidate or issue. In 2012, 21% had done so.

Yes, those numbers were taken during the heat of those presidential elections. But the study also found online government interaction is up across the board. From August 2011 to August 2012:

39% of American adults participated in political or civic activities on social sites.
39% contacted a government official or spoke out in a public forum offline.
34% spoke out or contacted an official online.

THE HOPE

Is the Internet the only place to get involved in your government? No. It’s not even the most popular, according to this study. Not yet at least. But there was a time when people still wrote more letters than emails, too.

The bottom line is, people want to be involved. The Civic Engagement in the Digital Age study found that almost half (48%) of adults in the US had directly taken part in a civic activity — like working with neighbors to solve a problem or attending a town hall meeting — in the past year. And it’s only natural that as our bank accounts and our personal communications and even our grocery lists move online, so do our public affairs.

I’m proud to say that both my parents have now taken advantage of this new civic empowerment. From where I sit, it’s been exciting to see more and more in their generation do the same. And I hope that some day, when I’m the parent of a 20-something of my own, online community involvement will be just another convenience — like email, online banking or YouTube — that the next generation takes for granted.

Originally published on 1o/10/13 at http://mindmixer.com/2013/10/online-engagement-a-20-somethings-perspective/