Millennials have a dog in the net neutrality fight. They just don't know it yet.

The debate over so-called "net neutrality" legislation captured national attention in recent weeks, but not the attention of local young adults.

As some of the most voracious consumers of online content, millennials are likely to be the demographic most affected by any possible action. However it seems that a large portion of the conversation has gone on without them.

Cape Girardeau resident Brittany Smith, 23, said she, like many of her peers, spends more than 20 hours per week streaming movies and TV shows on the popular streaming service Netflix.

"More or less whenever I'm not working or when I'm home, I'll put on some 'Grey's Anatomy' or something to relax," she said. "It's maybe not five hours a day, but close."

Netflix has been caught in the middle of the fight over net neutrality as the go-to example of a high-volume information service that network providers would like to charge more since they use more bandwidth. Smith said that although everyone she knows is heavily dependent upon online services -- online gaming is another often-cited example of a high-traffic industry -- she hadn't noticed anyone use the term "net neutrality" before.

But millennials aren't the only ones who have tuned out the static over net regulation.

From the outset, the issue has been laid out using a mix of rhetoric and technical jargon that's left most people, regardless of age, with a tenuous grasp on the essential facts. At it's most basic, the argument concerns whether service providers ought to be able to delineate their services according to the amount of strain clients -- tech companies such as Netflix -- put on the network's bandwidth.

Cape Girardeau resident Krista Francis, 22, said she, too, couldn't recall ever hearing of net neutrality.

"No, that's not something that I'm following," she said. "I haven't heard any of my friends talking about it, but it sounds like it would make sense."

After comedian John Oliver featured a humorous (albeit fact-based and impassioned) segment articulating a pro-net-neutrality argument, the Federal Communications Commission website collapsed under the public outcry on their message boards. President Barack Obama's official support of net neutrality legislation nabbed headlines

But the hashtag activism was short-lived, and as it turned out, neither Jon Stewart's protege nor the president could make the debate interesting for more than a few days. All possible outcomes are murky, predicated on speculation, and both sides claim their opponents' actions will bring Internet innovation to a screeching halt.

The simple fact: The net neutrality debate is boring.

"I would say 'yes,' the companies should be able to charge [Netflix] more since they're using more of it," Smith said. "As long as Netflix doesn't jack up the prices on my end."

tgraef@semissourian.com

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