If all ages are influenced by misinformation, should there be any age limits on voting?

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Lowering the voting age - Standpoint image 1

Misinformation has become a very important and visible thing nowadays and it forms political opinions across generations. If all people in the world are exposed to some fake and false information, we should ask ourselves and think about whether we should have some age limits?
Misinformation shouldn't be the only reason why people want lower or increased voting age limit. To start with, every person can misunderstand something, and it doesn't depend on how old he or she is. We are all exposed to social media and bigger thing about understanding or misinformation is our education, perspective and critical thinking. Secondly, if we add age limit it wouldn’t solve much of a problem. It may reduce people that vote because of misinformation, but it would not stop it because that doesn’t depend on wheatear you are 16 or 60 years old. Finally, today, there are many younger people that know much more than some 50 or 60-years-old ones. In school, they learn much more about politics and future, how to think and listen to others, but also not to believe to everything they read or hear through the internet.
Recent research talks about how younger and older people believed misinformation. For example, teenagers are often more exposed to social media than older people. Todays’ kids know a lot about technology, AI etc. The problem is that older people think that every video, interview or something is real, but also the problem with younger people is that their thinking and opinion is based on what other people around them think. If mum or dad has a certain opinion, there is a big possibility that the kid will think the same because they aren’t interested or they don’t care yet.
Some people probably say that there should be the upper age limit because the older people wouldn’t experience the long-term consequences of their decisions. The younger people think about todays and future global problems such as climate change, education and technology. However, the democracy depends on equal rights and not on person’s age. Excluding elderly people’s vote would violate the principle of political equality.
To conclude, age limit should not be certain just because of one thing – misinformation. The better way to reduce misinformation is to help each other to understand and know for what we are voting for and what our future will look like.

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