Political Conversations Between Generations: What Young People Say
From Thanksgiving tables to the comments of Facebook posts, political conversations can cause tension—particularly between generations. Whether it’s in conversation with a stranger or family member, many young people report feeling unheard when discussing civic life with their elders. Yet, young people still want to talk.
Through Springtide’s report, Cultivating Care: How and Why Young People Participate in Civic Life, and The Voices of Young People Podcast, we asked young people about these kinds of conversations: Do they want to have these intergenerational conversations? Why are they so difficult? How could people make them more respectful, and even more fruitful?
Struggles with intergenerational conversations on politics
Throughout Cultivating Care interviews and the conversations with our Springtide Ambassadors, young people value talking about politics with other generations. In an episode of the Voices of Young People podcast, one of our Springtide Ambassadors, Jonathan (16), says “I think the overwhelming majority of Gen Z Americans and Gen Z people in general are more than happy to have conversations with the older generations … we value what you bring, we value your perspective.”
That said, young people consistently describe feeling dismissed during these conversations with members of older generations. They view this dismissiveness as the root cause of tension that can arise during these talks. Springtide Ambassador Joe (19) says, “It’s a thing that’s happened for every generation ever. I think that young people get dismissed because ‘oh they don’t know what they’re talking about, or they haven’t experienced enough or done the things that I’ve done.’”
The feeling of dismissal leads to young people feeling ignored. Cultivating Care respondent, Simon (23), says older generations feel “entitled to interrupt a younger person’s train of thought or argument.” He describes it as “infantilizing” and says it communicates a sense that adults feel as though “‘I, as an adult, need to show you that you are wrong, right now, and you can’t question my authority on it. I don’t see you as an equal. You are someone to interrupt and [someone who needs to] learn from me.’” Many young people echoed this feeling of being unheard due to their age.
However, many young people identify that what they’ve lived through is unique to younger generations in ways their elders could learn from, like being a digital native and engaging in globalized communication. When all parties come to the table with their respective experiences, young people see a potential for genuine understanding between generations.
“Listening to understand”
Young people say that before there can be understanding, better communication must come first. Ambassadors and respondents gave advice on how to do just that.
In an episode of The Voices of Young People Podcast, Springtide Ambassador Aimee (23) uses the language of “[listening] to understand rather than to respond” to describe ways older generations can encourage better conversation. This language appears repeatedly through conversations with ambassadors and in the Cultivating Care data, often with almost exact wording. Cultivating Care respondent Kirsten (22) says she feels valued in intergenerational conversation “ … if they’re listening. They’re not listening to respond, they’re listening to hear.”
“I was wrong”: humility in political conversations
In addition to listening to understand, young people suggest adults acknowledge their potential for being wrong. Young people prioritize this for any political conversation, including with their peers. They found it particularly valuable in intergenerational conversations due to the tendency of older generations to dismiss young people because of their lack of life experience. One Springtide Ambassador puts it this way:
Life is so much more fun when you’re wrong. When you can just step back and say ‘I was wrong, what I did was wrong, what I said was wrong, my understanding of this thing was wrong.’
Young people and the future of civic discourse
Young people know they have a significant role in the future of civic life. In Cultivating Care, Mae (21) says, “I think that young people hold more power than they realize. We are the ones who are going to inherit the nation like it or not.” Young people value their involvement in civic life and prize the conversations with those who have been involved for much longer than they have. Ambassador Aimee (23) summarizes the humility and openness valued by young people in civic discourse with the bible verse 1 Tim. 4:12.
She reads, “Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” Aimee leans on the call of young people to set an example, and offers her own challenge directly, saying, “For all those who are examples in speech, examples in conduct, in love, in faith, I would just hope that we would not dismiss them because they’re young, but really lean in and listen to understand.”
