Youth and Virtual Politics

Indonesian youth, especially well-educated high school and college age youth in cities, are increasing present on social media and also increasingly using social media to educate themselves about politics, and to express their own political views and opinions. Youth have started and circulated hashtags to promote and shame politicians, some watchdog sites have been made to monitor elections, and yet other sites provide critical election data.

However, much of the content on the internet is based far less on fact; in elections beginning with the year 2014, candidates have catered to this with a strong online presence managed by either volunteers or staff, which include not only twitter slogans and campaign statements but things like gaming sites as well. Take a look at a few examples at http://www.insideindonesia.org/the-paradox-of-virtual-youth-politics .

Social media is an outlet for political participation that youth tend to deem free from partisan influence (unlike party-owned television networks) and available to most educated people. However, lies circulate as easily as truth in the abundance of free information presented; most consumers of information on the internet do not bother to check the validity of the information they receive.

Benefits and negatives aside, the authors of this article argue that ‘virtual politics’ and ‘virtual activism’ is not enough to create social change. They urge Indonesian youth to translate this participation into reality in order to truly make themselves seen and heard and to better hold their politicians accountable.