Convergence Magazine Interview: Youth & the Pro-Democracy Movement
Social media, authoritarian allure, class divides, and the potential for US youth to join a pro-democracy movement.
The Lab's team member Alex Ames sat down for an interview with Scot Nakagawa and Sue Hyde for an episode of The Anti-Authoritarian Podcast, a series hosted by Convergence Magazine. Alex discussed questions central to the Lab’s mission:
⭐ How do we rebuild young people's investment in their own democracy? Why are some young people feeling the allure of an authoritarian movement, and what can we do to contest for their support?
⭐Youth with college degrees are overrepresented in our current conception of Gen Z as a whole. How do we refocus on the working class youth - whose conditions are currently ripe for exploitation by the psuedo-populist right - towards a true democracy in their work, the broader economy, and of course American electoral power?
⭐How does the massive role of social media (roughly 9 hours per day spent on non-academic screen time for a teenager today) impact young people's perspective of whether they can make the world a better place?
⭐How do we ensure young people's distrust of elites, corporations, and institutions becomes a positive force for transforming America into a multiracial democracy - rather than anchoring our generation to cyncism, disengagement, and despair?
Give it a listen: https://convergencemag.com/podcast/activating-the-next-generation-young-people-in-the-pro-democracy-movement-with-alex-ames/ . A special thank you to the Convergence and 22nd Century Initiative teams for producing this episode with us.
