Peer Pressured in to Voting?? Awesome.

 iPhone: Check. Facebook app: Check. Mobile upload of your Election Day experience: Check (if you’re cool). On November 6, social media worked its magic into essentially guilt-trip anyone who wasn’t already head to the poll to get a move on.

In today’s hyper-connected, always-wanting-to-share culture, there are many moments in which we see feel measured by our social media lives. “Even though that party wasn’t so fun, the pictures make it look like a blast, so my ex will see these and think I’m totally living it up.” “Why does that girl I barely knew in high school always end of traveling around the world – according to her check-ins? My life is so boring compared to hers!” A lot of annoying, superficiality that probably deserves another rant (but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t fall victim to it sometimes, too). But what I witnessed on Election Day was how this same social-self-comparisons phenomenon can be used to drive people into meaningful action.

I myself am not much of a sharer/poster/checker-inner (comparatively). But I felt quite compelled to update my Facebook status on Tuesday morning with a photo of the insanely long line weaving through the PS 261 school cafeteria. I was exercising my right to vote – despite how awful florescent lights and no coffee can be at 7:30 am – and it felt good. Shockingly good. And much more so than other feelings of pride or accomplishment, I wanted to make sure people knew I was out there doing it (I’m not politically apathetic!). So as I was slowly crawling through the line, boredom inspired Facebook trolling, which lead to a crowd-sourced slideshow of other poll site lines. And since I was in my own, I wanted to contribute (I wasn’t going to be the asshole that just said I voted – I was going to offer documented proof!).

I can imagine that for anyone that didn’t get themselves to the poll – and did get themselves on Facebook – felt a little left out of the look. And I like to imagine that maybe, just maybe, the onslaught of Election Day sharing convinced one or two non-believers to get out there (if for nothing else than to have their own “my poll line was so long but I stuck it out because I care!” story at the next get together). So even if it was just for show, I’m a believer that the outcome is really what matters. The ways in which we get people to take a desired action are sometimes inconsequential (think about tricking kids in to eating broccoli until they realize they actually like it – totally fair game). So for all those who measure their coolness in posts, uploads, likes and comments, I hope you had a field-day on Election Day. You’re cool!