[LINK] Young Australians prefer blogging to voting, study finds

[David Boxall]

<http://www.itnews.com.au/News/83623,young-australians-prefer-blogging-to-voting-study-finds.aspx>
> The Internet could be the key to engaging young Australians who have 
> turned their backs on traditional political processes, researchers say.
Are the majority of young Australians really *that* interested in the 
Internet?  Strange as it may seem to those of us here, I believe the 
answer's in the negative.  There are better (and sometimes worse) things 
to occupy their time.

> According to a study conducted by the Whitlam Institute, young people 
> are more likely to exercise their democratic voice by blogging rather 
> than enrolling to vote.
So how to avoid disenfranchising those who, for whatever reason, don't 
have access?

> The researchers suggest that young Australians are not apathetic, but 
> could feel alienated and marginalised by traditional, 
> institutionalised politics.
...
> Sidoti explained that young Australians tend to be distrustful of 
> politicians, and malcontent about the hierarchies in traditional 
> institutions of democracy.
With that, I can empathise.  Politics, it seems to me, degrades more and 
more each day.  Unfortunately, it's all we have.

I've no doubt that the Internet is politically significant. It can 
potentially mitigate the worst excesses of political degeneracy.  It can 
also potentially distort the political ecosystem by facilitating 
undeserved dominance by the loudest and most insistent.

-- 
David Boxall                    |  My figures are just as good
                                |  as any other figures.
                                |  I make them up myself, and they
                                |  always give me innocent pleasure.
                                |                     --HL Mencken