What Marlborough’s seeing online
Marlborough students often engage with political messaging both on social media and traditional news platforms.
However, when answering a survey sent out to the Marlborough student body about social media’s impact on politics, 54% of 61 students reported that they never or rarely use social media as their primary source of information.
The political content they do see on social media is usually opinionated and comedic edits, with 49% of respondents reporting they view this type of content the most frequently.
Phoebe ’25 said she sees a lot of political content on Instagram because users can easily repost content. She also said that Instagram’s repost feature can be positive because it helps raise awareness for political organizations.
“It can increase awareness. There are definitely benefits to seeing your favorite influencers and your friends be political,” Phoebe said.
She also said that the repost feature comes with some inherent flaws. She said it supplies the public with subjective news sources and perpetuates the spread of misinformation. Phoebe said the majority of people probably do not verify all of the information they obtain, and it is hard to avoid influence on social media when opinions are increasingly prevalent.
“I often fall prey to seeing something and then believing it without even realizing,” she said.
Other Marlborough students agree with Linn’s concern about misinformation. Sixty-one percent of respondents to the survey said they do not trust most of the political information they see on social media. Jemma ’27 said she is always wary of her news sources and prefers to get news from trusted sources, rather than social media platforms.
“I’m entertained by how candidates’ publicity teams have begun to cater to younger audiences, but if a post contains any news being called fact, I’m always wary of the source,” Jemma said. “I prefer to get news from news sources I trust instead of social media, which can often inflate or misinterpret issues.”
Adison ’28 said she thinks political influencers weave their implicit bias into their content, agreeing that the information is not always reliable.
“When I see political commentary, they are biased interpretations with skewed facts,” Adison said. “Left or right, all political influencers hide certain truths to make their statement seem more exaggerated.”
The majority of respondents said they are more receptive to posts that specifically target young people, like the “Kamala Is Brat” trend or other edits that incorporate sounds or video styles that are popular among Gen Z. Clara ’28 said she is less receptive when the use of trends seems disingenuous and solely focused on getting young votes, rather than posts that suggest they truly care about the youth perspective.
“If political posts are targeted towards a younger audience in the sense that they care about the opinions of the youth, I am more receptive,” Clara said. “However, if they follow trends or try to be funny to try and get votes and support from a younger audience, I am less receptive.”
Slatkow said NextGen America has noticed that the majority of Gen Z value authenticity and candor and look for it in political posts and messaging. As a millennial, Slatkow said she was influenced by what she witnessed during the 2008 election when she was a kid. With a recession happening during that time, she was impacted by watching people not follow through on changes that they promised to voters.
Additionally, Slatkow said that other young people see through any empty promises that politicians make today, and that it is important to stay informed and try to determine whether politicians are being truthful.
“Young people see right through [politicians’ lip service],” she said. “We know that if someone says something that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to happen. We need to see action.”