Facebook Surge≠Voting Surge

Election time has come around the bend. Everyone is getting excited about casting his or her vote at the polls. Even teenagers are going to show up in record numbers, so they say. An article in the Chicago Tribune expects young voter turnout to surge.

What do I think? I think it's all a load. Facebook and Youtube are the reasons for the expected smorgasbord of young voters this election.

First off, the primary reason for involvement on those sites is because of their convenience. That's right, convenience. These teens seem to be getting more involved, but they are actually just sitting at their computer passing the time. Come election time, these same teens will be found in or around their couch.

Yeah, I know what you might be thinking. "Isn't he just being cynical?" I obviously don't think so. I'm writing this blog right? Idealistic society aside, do you really think a bunch of teenagers are going to show up because they use Facebook a lot? If there was a way to cast your vote on Facebook, every teen and his mom would vote. Once you add in a drive to a poll and a wait in line, the grass on that side looks worse no matter which side you're on.

Even absentee ballots are a turnoff. Some teens don't know that the postal service is still in business. E-mails are beginning to seem outdated by the youth's standards, of course mail is a turnoff.

Either a new way of voting (online) needs to be fine tuned or the youth are just going to stay home and post blogs about the results.