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

Ana Pérez-Escoda, Luis Miguel Pedrero-Esteban, Juana Rubio-Romero and Carlos Jiménez-Narros
Additional contact information
Ana Pérez-Escoda: Department of Communication, Antonio de Nebrija University, C. de Sta. Cruz de Marcenado 27, 28015 Madrid, Spain
Luis Miguel Pedrero-Esteban: Department of Communication, Antonio de Nebrija University, C. de Sta. Cruz de Marcenado 27, 28015 Madrid, Spain
Juana Rubio-Romero: Department of Communication, Antonio de Nebrija University, C. de Sta. Cruz de Marcenado 27, 28015 Madrid, Spain
Carlos Jiménez-Narros: Department of Communication, Antonio de Nebrija University, C. de Sta. Cruz de Marcenado 27, 28015 Madrid, Spain

Publications, 2021, vol. 9, issue 2, 1-16

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.

Keywords: misinformation; fake news; social media; media; consumption; Generation Z; young people; media literacy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A2 D83 L82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/9/2/24/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/9/2/24/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jpubli:v:9:y:2021:i:2:p:24-:d:567456

Access Statistics for this article

Publications is currently edited by Ms. Jennifer Zhang

More articles in Publications from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().