A Sociological Eye

    Yesterday, I posted on social media the graph you see here. It shows current levels of support for the presidential candidates according to gender for Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers. I asked folks reading the post for their theories about what is going on with Gen X, and got a lot of responses. So here is my report on what people had to say! First, to summarize what this chart shows you: Millennials and Baby Boomers are nearly identical in their views, despite having a generation between them with different political preferences. About 70% of both Millennial and Boomer women support Harris, while only about 38% of men in those generations say they support her. That’s a striking binary gender gap of over 30 points. (The survey does not consider the preferences of nonbinary people.) Generations Z and X show different patterns. Gen Z voters are in the youngest voting age bracket, and for decades voters in that bracket have held more progressiv...

  People will say students today are "digital natives" who should navigate school software and web platforms with east. They are so wrong.  Today's students aren't "digital" natives, they are SMARTPHONE natives. They know their social media, and can pop a snarky gif reaction into a group chat with astonishing speed. But unlike Millennials, who were the first generation to be named digital natives, they have never loved their laptops. Millennials first interacted with the internet on computers, and it was their window to a wider world. As kids, they saved their schoolwork onto floppy disks. Later, they burned their own CDs, and saved their papers on thumb drives. They knew as routine chores such activities as updating their drivers and reinstalling their operating systems. They used word processors with practiced ease.   My Gen Z students feel like their phones are an extension of themselves. Their laptops are just a tool they use for school. A lot of my stud...