Fake News Reaching Young People on Social Networks: Distrust Challenging Media Literacy

Abstract

Current societies are based on huge flows of information and knowledge circulating on the Internet, created not only by traditional means but by all kinds of users becoming producers, which leads to fake news and misinformation. This situation has been exacerbated by the pandemic to an unprecedented extent through social media, with special concern among young people. This study aims to provide significant data about the youngest generation in Spain (Generation Z) regarding their media and information consumption, their social network use, and their relationship with fake news, all in relation to the feeling of reliability/trust. Focusing on a convenience sample of 408 young Spanish students from Generation Z aged 18 to 22, a descriptive exploratory study is presented. Data collection was performed with an adapted questionnaire. Results show that young Spanish people use networks for information, showing a surprising lack of trust in social networks as the media they consume the most. The content they consume the most since the occurrence of COVID-19 is related to politics, entertainment, humor, and music. On the other hand, distrust of politicians, media, and journalists is evident. The conclusion is that media literacy is still more necessary than ever, but with the added challenge of mistrust: maybe it is time to rethink media literacy.

Development and psychometric properties of a tool to assess Media Health Literacy (MeHLit)

“…Common literature in this field has considered media literacy as a predictive component of health literacy [ 9 , 12 ] and has reported the positive effect of media literacy education on improving healthy lifestyles and promoting health [ 9 ] through identifying correct and incorrect information in social networks [ 13 ], infodemic and rumour management [ 14 , 15 ], facilitating the search for information about disease prevention [ 16 , 17 ] and recognizing the symptoms of diseases, recognizing physical and behavioral abnormalities [ 18 ].…”

Design and Validation of a Novel Tool to Assess Citizens’ Netiquette and Information and Data Literacy Using Interactive Simulations

“…This area is also known as information literacy or digital information literacy, and it is constantly changing due to the recurrent changes in how citizens access and manage information through different types of devices. Citizens, and especially youth, are replacing traditional media with social networks, which are currently one of the means most used, but at the same time supposes an ungoverned source of information that tends to create confusion, generate controversies and distrust [37][38][39], enable users to be active content creators [40] and influence young people in their choice of role models [41]. Moreover, the ease and speed of propagation that social networks facilitate for disinformation has become one of the most dangerous threats [42][43][44][45], in conjunction with the emergence of discourses based on emotional appeal to influence choice by making use of different ways such as click baiting, algorithms based on artificial intelligence, creation of filtered bubbles, personalisation of information, etc.…”

De la radio al audio a la carta: la gestión de las plataformas de podcasting en el mercado hispanohablante

“…la irrupción de Internet y la normalización de los dispositivos de acceso móvil a la red han propiciado la convergencia de lenguajes y soportes, la multiplicación en las formas y puntos de acceso a los contenidos, y la consolidación de nuevas lógicas asociadas a la transformación digital (Pérez-Escoda et al, 2021). Por efecto de tales cambios se han redefinido los hábitos de información, entretenimiento y relación entre los usuarios y los medios, entre ellos la radio, obligada a renovar sus rutinas de producción, distribución y monetización (Pedrero-Esteban y García-Lastra, 2019).…”