If you look at the economic data, you would think young voters would be excited right now. Unemployment rate remains low. Employment opportunities are plentiful. Inequality has fallen, wage growth has finally outpaced inflation, and the economy has expanded rapidly this year.
TikTok gives a very different impression — one that seems more in line with both consumer confidence data and President Biden’s performance in political polls.
Some of the economic trends gaining traction on TikTok are downright dire. The term “silent depression” was recently coined. massive of viral video.clip deadly Capitalism is common. On Instagram, jokes about low housing prices have become a genre in themselves.
Social media reflects, and may even exacerbate, deep-seated economic anxieties that are evident in consumer surveys and political polls among young people. This suggests that even though the job market is booming, people are focusing on long-term issues such as home prices when assessing the economy.
Economic conversations held virtually may provide insight into the stark disconnect between optimistic economic data and pessimistic sentiment that has puzzled political strategists and economists.
Consumer sentiment is at an all-time high This is consistently depressed A time when unemployment rates were consistently low. And voters rate Biden poorly on economic issues, despite rapid growth and a strong job market. Young people are especially depressed. A recent poll by The New York Times and Siena College found that 59 percent of voters under 30 rate the economy as “poor.”
That’s where social media can provide insight. Popular interest determines which content is often viewed. Especially on TikTok, where going viral is often the goal. Platforms are also important means of disseminating information and sentiment.
“A lot of people get their information from TikTok, but even if you don’t, your friends do, so you’re still going to be looped into an echo chamber,” Kyla Scan said. Ron said. content creator Posters focused on economic issues carefully researched Commentator on TikTok, Instagram, and X.
Ms. Scanlon has become famous in traditional news media, in part because she coined and popularized the term .vibrator session” Considering how bad it was for consumers in 2022, she thinks 2023 will be even worse.
“I think people are getting angrier and angrier,” she said. “I think we’re actually in an even worse recession right now.”
questionnaire Generation Z people born after 1996 suggest they frequently get their news from social media and messaging apps. And among U.S. adults, Especially TikTok This is because information is steadily increasing. Facebook remains a big news source because it has more users, but one study found that about 43% of adults who use TikTok get their news from Facebook regularly. new research By Pew Research Center.
It’s hard to say with certainty whether negative news on social media is causing bad sentiment about the economy or the Biden administration. Katerina Eva Mazza, director of news and information research at the Pew Research Center, says data is the key to understanding exactly how specific news distribution channels, especially new ones, are influencing people’s perceptions. According to research, it is difficult to do so.
“Has news evolved to make people see things in a negative way?” she asked. It’s hard to tell, but “how you’re exposed to and involved with this information may play a role,” she explained.
Biden’s re-election team recognizes that TikTok has replaced X, formerly known as Twitter, as a key source of information for many young voters this election cycle, and how negative it is. I am aware that there may be a trend. White House officials say that while some of these messages accurately reflect messengers’ economic experiences, others are more like misinformation that social media platforms should police.
Rob Flaherty, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, said the campaign is working with TikTok content creators to “spread positive and positive messages” about the economy.
Some political campaign posts to promote Biden’s career history We were able to collect thousands of likes. But the “Silent Depression” post has attracted hundreds of thousands of posts, showing how much negativity is winning.
In these videos, influencers compare how well off they were financially in 1930 and 2023. The video is misleading and downplays important facts. Approximately one in four adults In 1933 we were unemployed; today we are 4 in 100. And the data they cite is often from unreliable sources.
But the home price trends highlighted in the video are based in reality. Buying real estate is becoming more difficult for young people over time.cost of typical house 2.4 times the typical value household income Around 1940, government data begins. Today it is 5.8 times.
According to Freddie Smith, 35, a real estate agent in Orlando, Florida, who created the popular “Quiet Depression” video, housing isn’t the only thing that’s making young people feel like they’re falling behind. That’s what it means. These days, it costs gas, groceries, a car, and rent.
“I think it’s a perfect storm,” Smith said. “This is the tug of war that Millennials and Gen Z are facing right now.”
Inflation has cooled markedly since peaking in the summer of 2022, and the Biden administration is hailing this as a victory. Still, that just means prices aren’t rising as quickly anymore. Core costs are still significantly higher than they were just a few years ago.The food is much more expensive Gasoline, for example, hovered around $2.60 a gallon in early 2020, but now costs around $3.40.
These price increases do not necessarily mean that people’s living conditions are getting worse. Household incomes have also increased, so people have more money to cover higher costs. Consumer spending data shows that people under the age of 25 and even under 35 are spending a similar or lower share of their annual budgets on groceries and gasoline than before the pandemic, at least on average. .
“I think it just makes things feel harder,” said Betsy Stevenson, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan. He explained that he considers the value of products based on fixed standards.
And with rents, home prices, and mortgage costs all rising, housing is indeed a bigger part of young consumers’ budgets than it was in pre-pandemic years.
In addition to prices, content about student loans has become popular in TikTok conversations (#studentloans has been viewed 1.3 billion times), with many posts complaining.
Biden’s approach to student debt has been a roller coaster ride for millions of young Americans. Last year, he proposed a plan that would wipe out up to $20,000 of debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year. The cost was estimated at $400 billion After decades, the Supreme Court ended up striking down the initiative this summer.
Biden continues to push for more individualized efforts, including a total of $127 billion in loan forgiveness for 3.6 million borrowers. But last month, the administration also lifted a pandemic loan payment freeze that had applied to all borrowers (about 40 million people).
The administration is trying to inject more positive programming into social media discussions. Biden met with about 60 TikTok creators to explain his original student loan forgiveness plan shortly after the announcement. The campaign team also sent videos of young people crying after learning their loans were forgiven to key creators for sharing.
Flaherty said that while the Biden campaign is actively advertising on digital platforms, it does not pay these creators or try to dictate what they say.
“It has to sound authentic,” he said.