Election and Generation Z

Written by Grace Debora C. Ongkowidjojo (016201200028)

Have you ever heard of the term Generation Z? Generation Z is one of the groups of generation established by experts to analyze the generational change and characteristics from the World War era. The earliest generation is the Veterans, then the Baby Boomers, followed by Generation X and the Millenials (or Generation Y). Generation Z is the latter generation consists of those who were born from mid 1990s until early 2000s. They are natives to digital technology. They were born into technology and never experience a life without it. They communicate through social media and the their lives revolve around the internet. They are very open to diversity and very willing to share their opinion and mundane details of life in the social media.

As it happens, this year's presidential election in Indonesia would be the very first election where some older parts of Generation Z are able to vote. As a part of Generation Z myself, the euphoria of the elections, friends sharing news and blogs about the candidates are the very thing I see everyday on every social media I have, Facebook, Twitter, Path, and many more. Many of my friends even "unfriend" or "unfollow" someone who has different preferential candidate on the basis of "cleaning their timeline".

Generation Z contributes almost one third of this year's voters, and since it is in our culture to express ourselves publicly through media and our awareness of the social and political happenings locally or globally, the presidential election has run more rampant online than ever before. People changing their profile picture showing their preference and many online jokes, memes, critical opinions are posted everywhere.

Each generation has its own culture and values based on the environment and advancements of the world. And this will bring different outcome and approach needed in the society. And the natives to digital technology have indeed shifted the way of this year's biggest political event.

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