---
title: "The Age of Indifference"
description: "Report Summary In the days when LBJ was President, the phrase “generation gap” summed up the contrasting political and social values of young Americans and their elders. Today, a new but different generation gap exists. A major comparative examination of what young people know, what they pay attention to, and what media they use reveals […]"
date: "1990-06-28"
authors:
  - name: "Pew Research Center"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/1990/06/28/the-age-of-indifference/"
categories:
  - "Age & Generations"
  - "News Coverage"
---

# The Age of Indifference

## Report Summary

In the days when LBJ was President, the phrase "generation gap" summed up the contrasting political and social values of young Americans and their elders. Today, a new but different generation gap exists. A major comparative examination of what young people know, what they pay attention to, and what media they use reveals a generation that knows less, cares less, and reads newspapers less. It is also a generation that votes less and is less critical of its leaders and institutions than young people in the past.