Digital Civic Duties

What It Means to Be a Citizen

Being an American citizen isn't just about where you were born or what passport you hold. It's about participating in something bigger than yourself—a shared experiment in self-governance that's lasted nearly 250 years.

Citizenship comes with rights: free speech, free assembly, the right to vote, the right to worship as you choose. But it also comes with responsibilities—responsibilities that your generation must embrace if this experiment is to continue.

The Digital World You Inherited

Young Americans, you are the first generation to grow up entirely online. That comes with unprecedented access to information—and unprecedented exposure to misinformation, manipulation, and hate.

Social media algorithms are designed to keep you engaged, not informed. They amplify outrage because outrage gets clicks. They create echo chambers that make you think everyone agrees with you—or that everyone who disagrees is evil.

Your challenge: Learn to navigate this landscape without losing your humanity, your critical thinking, or your ability to connect with people who see the world differently.

Pause Before You Share

Every share makes you a publisher. Every repost makes you responsible for spreading information—true or false. Before you click that share button, take a moment to verify what you're about to amplify.

Misinformation spreads faster than truth because it triggers our emotions. It makes us angry, scared, or outraged—and we want to warn others. But that's exactly how false information goes viral.

On Disagreement and Dialogue

America has always been a nation of disagreement. That's not a bug—it's a feature. The Founders themselves argued bitterly about the Constitution. What made America work wasn't agreement; it was the commitment to work through disagreement without destroying each other.

Today, we're losing that skill. We unfriend people who vote differently. We assume the worst about those who disagree. We call people evil instead of engaging their arguments.

This must change, and your generation can change it.

The Loudest Voice Wins

Politics became about who screams loudest, not who's right. We stopped asking "Is this true?" and started asking "Is this trending?" We stopped valuing wisdom and started rewarding volume.

The result? A culture where whoever screams loudest is assumed to be right. Where moral posturing replaces moral action. Where attention equals importance, and outrage equals engagement.

It's time to change this—and your generation can lead the way. Learn more about how performative outrage replaced civil discourse and what we can do about it.

Standing Against Hate

Many people are using social media as a news source and misinformation or slander (whether intentional or through reposting) causes damage. Racism and bigotry of all kinds are finding new life online and in the streets.

This is your test. Will you stay silent to fit in? Will you go along with the crowd? Or will you have the courage to say, "This is wrong"—even when it costs you?

What You Can Do Now

The Future Is Yours

We won't pretend everything is fine. It isn't. But we also won't pretend that despair is the only option. It isn't.

Every generation of Americans has faced challenges that seemed insurmountable. Every generation has had voices telling them the best days were behind them. And every generation that chose courage over cynicism proved those voices wrong.

You can be that generation. You can be the Americans who figured out how to disagree without destroying each other. Who learned to use technology without being used by it. Who stood against hate when standing was hard.

We believe in you. Now go prove us right.