{"id":69866,"date":"2022-08-25T07:57:50","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T14:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/?p=69866"},"modified":"2022-11-10T08:34:14","modified_gmt":"2022-11-10T16:34:14","slug":"teens-gen-z-misinformation-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/internet-culture\/teens-gen-z-misinformation-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"A little less misinformation, a little more action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Ten
Credit: Nick Velazquez \/ Mozilla<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As each generation comes of age, they challenge the norms that came before them. If you were to ask most people their go-to way to search, they would mention a search engine. But for Gen Z, TikTok<\/a> has become one of the most popular ways to find information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adrienne Sheares, a social media<\/a> strategist and a millennial who grew up relying on search engines, had difficulty grasping the habit. So, she spoke with a small group of Gen Zers and reported what she heard in a recent Twitter thread<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among her learnings: Young people are drawn to content TikTok curates for them, they prefer watching quick videos over reading, and they know misinformation exists and \u201cwill avoid content on the platform that can easily be false.\u201d Sheares\u2019 thread went viral. Her curiosity resonated, especially for people with habits very different to those of Gen Z\u2019s.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of our mission at Mozilla<\/a>, we\u2019re working to support families in having a healthy relationship with the internet. That includes an online experience where young people are equipped to cut through the noise \u2013 including misinformation<\/a>. So we wanted to learn more about how Gen Z consumes the news, and how families can encourage curiosity about current events without shutting out social media. After all, while it may be rife with misinformation, it\u2019s still an essential platform for many teens to connect<\/a> with their peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spoke with members of Teens for Press Freedom<\/a>, a youth-led organization that advocates for news literacy among teenagers. We asked Sofia, Agatha, Charlotte, Eloise and Kevin \u2013 who are all in their teens \u2013 about how they engage with information on social media, their concerns about algorithms and how we can help Gen Zers fight misinformation<\/a>. Here\u2019s what they said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n \"An <\/div>\n
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Talk to your kids about online safety<\/h3> Get tips<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/a>\n\n\n\n

Gen Zers are vocal about their values<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The way we consume news has become intrinsically social.<\/mark> People start sharing the news they\u2019re consuming because that\u2019s what you do on Instagram and other platforms. People say, “Hey, I’m reading this and therefore, I fit into this educated part of political American life. I have a real opinion that’s very valid.” Everyone wants to feel like they’re part of that group.<\/em><\/p>CHARLOTTE, CO-FOUNDER OF TEENS FOR PRESS FREEDOM<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Agatha, co-director of Teens for Press Freedom, first took notice of how news spreads on Instagram in 2020, when she was 14. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was this post about Palestine and Israel that was incredibly antisemitic,\u201d Agatha recalled. \u201cIt was sort of convincing people that they should be antisemitic. That obviously isn\u2019t right. I\u2019m Jewish, and I felt like the post associated Jewish people with the actions of Israel\u2019s government. That felt like misinformation because I didn\u2019t do anything. It seemed to blame people who have never even lived in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She started seeing more and more posts with misinformation about other issues, including COVID-19, the Black Lives Matter protests and violence against Asian Americans. \u201cPeople were sharing them because it looked cool, like they were doing the right thing by spreading these infographics and letting their thousands of followers know about these incidents,\u201d Agatha said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many young people want to publicly express their values. However, they run into a problem in the way they do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople weren\u2019t making sure that the information they were spreading was actually correct and not just something somebody had written, copied into a graphic and sent it out to the world,\u201d Agatha said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charlotte, who co-founded Teens for Press Freedom and is now an incoming freshman at Dartmouth College, said many people fall into a trap of \u201cvirtue signaling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way we consume news has become intrinsically social,\u201d Charlotte said. \u201cPeople start sharing the news they\u2019re consuming because that\u2019s what you do on Instagram and other platforms. People say, \u2018Hey, I’m reading this and therefore, I fit into this educated part of political American life. I have a real opinion that’s very valid.\u2019 Everyone wants to feel like they’re part of that group.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The infinite feed has shaped Gen Z\u2019s online habits<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s something about the endless scroll<\/mark> that is so compelling to people.<\/em><\/p>CHARLOTTE, CO-FOUNDER OF TEENS FOR PRESS FREEDOM<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Facebook launched in 2004, YouTube in 2005, Twitter in 2006, Instagram in 2010 and Snapchat in 2011. Millennials came of age as those platforms exploded. Gen Zers \u2013 those born after 1996, or people 25 and younger, as classified by the Pew Research Center<\/a> \u2013 don\u2019t remember a time when the internet wasn\u2019t a major means of personal communication and media consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media feeds favor information presented succinctly, so users can quickly move on to the next post one after another. TikTok, launched in 2016, has \u201chacked that algorithm so well,\u201d Charlotte said. \u201cNow, everyone\u2019s using it. There\u2019s YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, Netflix Fast Laughs. There\u2019s something about the endless scroll that is so compelling to people. That just invites us to spend hours and hours learning about the world in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teens today have lived most of their lives in that world, and it has affected how they consume the news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Short attention spans fuel misinformation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I’m listening to music, I can’t get myself to sit through a full song without skipping to the next one. Consuming things is just what we’re programmed to do.<\/mark><\/em><\/p>ELOISE, ADVOCACY DIRECTOR OF TEENS FOR PRESS FREEDOM<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Many teens know how to confirm facts through resources on the internet. That\u2019s thanks to ongoing efforts by educators who include verifying information in their lesson plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin, workshop team director at Teens for Press Freedom, recently saw a post on Instagram purportedly about a California bill that would allow late-term abortions<\/a>. \u201cI looked it up because I was curious,\u201d he said. He quickly learned that the law doesn\u2019t actually propose that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue, Kevin said, is taking the time to fact-check. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a generation constantly fed and fed and fed and given things to consume,\u201d said Eloise, advocacy director at Teens for Press Freedom. \u201cOur attention spans are significantly lower than generations before us. When I’m listening to music, I can’t get myself to sit through a full song without skipping to the next one. Consuming things is just what we’re programmed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That may be why many Gen Zers prefer watching short videos to learn information instead of reading articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople feel like reading the news is not something to prioritize when they can just look at headlines,\u201d Agatha said. \u201cA lot of newspapers have an audio link now so people listen to it instead. Or it\u2019ll say five-minute read, and people will take five minutes to read it. But they don\u2019t want to spend 10, 20 minutes informing themselves on what\u2019s happening to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

News events become more engaging on social media with flashy imagery and content that highlights the outrageous. While this means platforms have become a breeding ground for misinformation, there\u2019s also a silver lining: Younger generations have become more motivated than ever to engage in issues they care about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teens are aware about the power of algorithms<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We find that [algorithms are] kind of abusing our personal information.<\/mark><\/em><\/p>KEVIN, WORKSHOP TEAM DIRECTOR OF TEENS FOR PRESS FREEDOM<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

While many Gen Zers feel equipped to figure out what\u2019s real or not on social media, algorithms that feed users content curated to each individual are hurting their ability to slow down and choose what they consume. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of misinformation are half-truths, like it\u2019s almost believable enough that you can accept it without doing any extra research,\u201d said Sofia, a high school junior and co-director of Teens for Press Freedom. \u201cYou go to TikTok to be entertained, and if that entertainment is inundated with misleading information, you\u2019re consuming it without knowing you\u2019re consuming it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teens expressed concern about algorithm-based technologies being tested on young people. Kevin sees it as \u201cabusing their personal information.\u201d Being fed posts based on each person\u2019s interests can create a distorted ecosystem of content that includes misleading, even manipulative, information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re sucked into this world of people you don\u2019t know, and you see all these different ideas and things that are your interests, and you spend hours and hours on there,\u201d Agatha said. \u201cTheir ideas sort of become yours. Your opinion then becomes TikTok\u2019s opinion and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sofia said this has contributed to the loss of productive conversation around politics: \u201cAlgorithms are not only creepy. It\u2019s really damaging not just to the individual but to the political situation in the United States. People are only seeing content that aligns with their beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charlotte said, \u201cThere\u2019s this rhetoric about how Gen Z is the most informed generation because of social media, and in many ways that\u2019s true. But social media isn\u2019t really the great democratizer. There\u2019s [also] a lot we don\u2019t know because of these algorithms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are ways to help younger generations fight misinformation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rather than being talked at, [teens] can talk to each other about issues.<\/em><\/p>SOFIA, CO-DIRECTOR OF TEENS FOR PRESS FREEDOM<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

While education about trustworthy sources needs to continue through school, the group said we need to expand the conversation to social media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of people our age think that being critical of sources is something school-related,\u201d Kevin said. \u201cPeople will say something like, \u2018I saw this on TikTok, and then you know, very non-reluctantly quote social media as a source of information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applying the process of verifying information on social media means facilitating discussions among people who consume content in similar ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRather than being talked at, they can talk to each other about issues,\u201d Sofia said. \u201cIf they\u2019re convinced by someone their own age that what they\u2019re experiencing is not something that they alone have to go through, or that they alone have to figure out a solution, that makes the whole thing a lot easier to confront.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For parents<\/a>, this can mean finding peer-to-peer resources for their kids like Teens for Press Freedom\u2019s misinformation workshops<\/a>. Families can also have real conversations with their children about their values and issues they care about, encouraging curiosity instead of avoiding complicated topics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, adults can use their power to support efforts to make the internet a better place \u2013 one where technology doesn\u2019t use children\u2019s data against them. Young people will tell us what they need if we ask. We can\u2019t let algorithms do that work for us.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The internet is a great place for families. It gives us new opportunities to discover the world, connect with others and just generally make our lives easier and more colorful. But it also comes with new challenges and complications for the people raising the next generations. Mozilla wants to help families make the best online decisions, whatever that looks like, with our latest series, The Tech Talk<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As each generation comes of age, they challenge the norms that came before them. If you were to ask most people their go-to way to search, they would mention a search engine. But for Gen Z, TikTok has become one of the most popular ways to find information. Adrienne Sheares, a social media strategist and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1889,"featured_media":69887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[464058,30,461998],"tags":[290533,464155,464157],"coauthors":[464117],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA little less misinformation, a little more action<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We asked Gen Z how they deal with misinformation on social media, and what we can do to help them fight it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/internet-culture\/teens-gen-z-misinformation-social-media\/\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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