Statistics usually fail to capture young people’s motivations to take part in political processes, that is, their understanding of politics is overlooked. This qualitative research shows that young people from southeast European countries perceive politics as a process rather than a single event at voting time. They are uninterested in this process, however, because they find formal politics difficult or boring. Feelings of powerlessness, confusion, and ambivalence about their influence on decisions are followed by thinking about emigrating. Instead, we should change the way we do politics by nurturing political discussions and political literacy from a young age.