Before we try to engage young people in politics and civic life, it’s important to understand their day-to-day concerns, habits, and background assumptions–what Lew Friedland calls their “lifeworld.” As a start, consider the following data from the Reboot survey that I mentioned yesterday (pdf; go to p. 19). Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 said that they were “very worried” about the following issues:
| getting a sexually transmitted disease | 35% |
| your grades at school | 26% |
| finding a job when you get out of school | 23% |
| maintaining good relationships with your friends | 19% |
| getting along with your parents | 18% |
| your relationship with God | 18% |
| deciding who to vote for | 15% |
| making sure you are contributing to your community | 11% |
| finding a spouse | 7% |
| finding a girlfriend or boyfriend | 4% |
I was not surprised to find voting and contributing to the community pretty far down the list. (By the way, people probably overstated their concern for these matters because they know that they should care about them.) I was somewhat surprised to see the risk of STDs at the very top of the survey, and finding a girlfriend or boyfriend at the very bottom. I think my age cohort would have reversed that ordering, even though we came of age after AIDS.
The poll here is asking if you are “worried”. Do you really think your age cohort would be “worried” about finding a significant other?
I was!
But it’s a good observation. Probably dating doesn’t “worry” most people, whereas STD’s are purely and simply worrying.