On Youth and Teens Today with Vanessa Van Petten

Welcome to a secret view into the world of the net-generation. I love writing to you (maybe a little too much) so enjoy, stick around and be sure to tell me what you think...and, duh, get on my email list quick! (on the right, "subscribe via email"). Or subscribe to my RSS feed.

Me: “Do you know who is Mitt Romney is?”

16 year-old: “Oh ya, isn’t he like some rock star….right?”

Wrong. Many teens today, as well as adults are extremely unprepared and uninterested in the upcoming primaries and elections. As a 22 year-old, I can honestly say that I did not become interested in politics until more recently and wish that my friends and I had been more involved from an early age. It is really important that parents help their teens and kids become more involved and informed using ideas, lingo and mediums that will appeal to this generation (YouTube, Social Networking, Viral Marketing etc).

1. Use Net-Generation Cool Tools

The Internet can make anything fun. There are some great websites that you can point out to your teen. This especially works well if you are having problems communicating with them in general.  Have them check out these sites (you could always be very current and just email them the link).

• Connect2Elect

I used this site when I first started to look at how my views compared with the current candidates. You go through a series of questions about your beliefs and it creates your own personalized map. This is my map on the right. I am the yellow pin in the middle and Obama happens to be the next closest democrat pin to me (blue) and Rudy Giuliani is the closest republican to my interests (red). This is not only a cool tool, but the questions made me think about my values.  The map was very helpful in my primary decisions and I could click to see exactly what I agreed and disagreed with for each candidate.

• GlassBooth

This program also has a series of questions you rate on a scale (or skip if it does not matter to you) and then it shows you how closely you align with each candidate in terms of percentage, you can see each point you agree and disagree on and read about all of the measures. The graphics are appealing to young people (and anyone), it is simple and fun and makes it very easy to get more informed.

2. Make It Entertaining (funny)

If it is funny, we will usually watch it/read it/like it. I started reading the Onion in High School because I saw it for free at a coffee shop and found some of the articles hysterical! Yet, they used a lot of names and events I did not know about. Because I wanted to get the joke, I would go online and look up who/what they were talking about, thereby getting more informed (when all I really wanted was to understand the joke). The more I read it, the more into politics I got because there were some great political/news satire magazines.

• The Onion

The Onion is often found for free in coffee shops as well as online where they have videos and interviews, most everything is age appropriate and, in my opinion, really, really funny. Some are a little off-color, perhaps politically incorrect or totally ridiculous, but it should get your teen interested.

• The Drudge Report

I do not love gossip sites, but teens love gossip, to get them interested in something they would not normally like, you have to appeal to something they do like. This is a funny, constantly updated political gossip site that any clique obsessed teen girl might find mildly amusing.

• YouTube is a great place to find funny political advertisements, debates and “go vote” commercials. This one is a funny debate blowing up misconceptions of each of the two major democratic candidates. Tell them to surf YouTube, or go on yourself and find some funny, informative videos to watch or send to them.

3. Make Friends Around Politics

There are some great social networking sites out there specifically for politics.

• Buzzflash- This is a social news site where users can submit all political news and vote on what they like and dislike. Since we love being in control of what we see online and want to comment on everything, this is a perfect way to read (and object to) political news.
• Facebook and Myspace- Facebook/Myspace has its own groups on specific issues.  Have them join a party or support a candidate’s profile page.

4. Make it your own

Whenever you take something and change it, comment on it or modify it, you, in a way, make it your own and it becomes much easier to adopt a cause. Encourage teens to find a way to carve in their own niche for the primaries or the election.

• Grouply- Is a site just for making groups. Have them go create their own groups around issues that are important to them where they can moderate, start discussions and find people with similar interests.
• Citizen News- This is another social news site where teens themselves can write and submit their own news.
• Make Videos with Youtube, ThatVideSite or just on their computer for their friends. The girl below has had over five million hits when she created her “I got a cruch on Obama” frenzy, it got many teens thinking about politics…maybe not in the way we want, but still thinking.

5. Get Them Involved (together)

If you can, it is great to talk to your kids about politics and do political events together, but if not, at least encourage them to get involved on their own.

• Go to a rally, debate or speech together.
• Talk about all the issues and candidates at the dinner table or in the car. If you show you care, they will be much more inclined to care as well.
• Have everyone in the family represent one of the candidates and have them present their views, stage a mock debate.
• Host a political luncheon or sleepover for your kids and their friends, where everyone can come over and get a great dinner, watch the debates and argue…we love to argue.
•  You can have them write their own news article, commentary or a mock opinion piece for the school newspaper or local paper from a teen’s perspective.

**Most of all, tell them, and show them how to be open-minded. If you encourage your kid to do research and they end up having a different political opinion than you, talk to them about it, but make sure you are OK with their opinions and encourage them to keep and open mind.

Don’t forget to register yourself! Good luck,

Dream big, work hard and you will get there,

Vanessa