The True Digital Natives Have Arrived — And They’re Not Messing Around
How A New Generation Might Usher In Meaningful Change On Gun Control
By Sam Read
At this point our country’s response to mass shootings has settled into autopilot mode, with the same-old song and dance that goes a little something like this: shock, grief, anger, no action, no change, and then we do it all over again. From Sandy Hook to Orlando, Las Vegas, and sadly many, many more — we’ve yet to see a successful push for gun control measures of any kind at the federal level. But there’s a significant shift afoot, and we’re seeing it now in the wake of last week’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida: The inspiring voices who have stepped up to lead the charge for meaningful gun control measures are the teen survivors themselves, and they’re making some serious waves.
One of the most honest reads on what Americans are concerned with is a look at what we type into Google every day. As Mashable points out, Google searches for “gun control” faded to pre-shooting levels within just 2 weeks of the shooting in Las Vegas last year — a shooting that left almost 60 people dead and nearly 500 injured. And while Americans have become so inured to these tragedies that their staying power in the national consciousness has been diminishing, Parkland feels different, and we’ve got the numbers to back it up with a higher and more consistent volume of searches on the issue this time around:
Why the sustained focus on gun reform? Because the survivors leading the narrative are uniquely positioned to make their voices heard. Old enough to be independent actors and respond to a direct, evergreen threat to their lives, and young enough to have grown up as digital natives, these high school students are experts in engaging with each other, and the world, through social media and the internet. They have decisively seized control the conversation on gun control and are showing no signs of stopping.
We have seen young leaders leverage digital tools before to spark change — movements including the Arab Spring and #BlackLivesMatter used social media to provide outsiders a direct line into what was happening on the ground. By leveraging individual voices and bringing people directly into their world, leaders in these movements were able to share their experiences by cutting out the media as a gatekeeper, showing in real time the impacts of the challenges they were up against, and allowing people at home to feel digitally embedded within the movement.
The students in Parkland have clearly learned the lessons of the powerful movements who came before them and launched into action with a digital toolkit we could all stand to learn from. Their effort to turn grief and pain into action and empowerment reveals the power and potential of digital natives taking their future into their own hands on this issue, and any other they might set their minds to.
Here are a few reasons why this generation of digital natives has been successful, and what we can learn:
1. They’re Fluent And Organized. Growing up on the internet has given these young advocates the digital fluency and wherewithal to know all the levers you need to pull to drive a successful movement. For instance, the students are not just speaking out on social media, they’re using that online conversation to drive a call to action by creating an event, March for Our Lives. This gives them something tangible to work towards and a mechanism by which they can drive online conversations into real-life action — a key element of any successful campaign. They’re tweeting and talking to news outlets about it, sure, but they’ve also launched a website, an email campaign, have a store that benefits the movement, and have built up the digital infrastructure needed to support their efforts fast enough to match the urgency of moment. They could have easily stayed in an online awareness-building phase for a longer period of time, but they moved faster than most movements are comfortable with — and the public has responded to their enthusiasm in kind.
2. They’re Funny And Self-Aware. After a mass shooting took the lives of people close to them, it would be easy for these students to focus on the rage and sadness that comes with such tragedy. What’s giving their fight an energy and drive different than past gun control efforts is their hope — and their humor. The upside of having grown up on the internet is that these kids are much more prepared and innately skilled at a key component of online discourse: Dunking on your haters.
In the face of a disgusting and bad-faith backlash from critics of their efforts, the students of Parkland haven’t been intimidated or jaded in their response. Rather, they’ve shown exactly why you shouldn’t try and mess with a teen on the internet:
By channeling a mix of righteous anger, inspiring hope, and a willingness to directly confront their trolls, these young activists have been able to disarm and fight back against their opponents without acknowledging them as legitimate.
3. They’re Human And Honest. Above all, the students of Parkland are such effective messengers for their movement because they innately know that authentic personalities are not something that can be faked online. Rather than sticking to a focus group-tested set of talking points, they’re being themselves — sharing all the grief, anger, hope, and humor that they’re experiencing. The internet is a busy place with a lot of people talking, and personality rises above that noise more effectively than anything else. These students know that people don’t engage with issues and take action for change to support an organization, or a campaign — they take action to support people.
The success of these students is nothing short of stunning. We at RALLY are humbly in awe of the powerful work of these youth activists and we are eager to apply some of the lessons we learn from them to the work we do every day.
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RALLY is an issue-driven communications firm that takes on sticky political and social problems and finds ways to push them forward. Sam Read is a Digital Account Executive based out of RALLY’s Los Angeles office.
