{"id":17528,"date":"2025-04-28T22:16:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T22:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=17528"},"modified":"2025-04-28T22:16:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T22:16:53","slug":"how-gen-z-became-the-most-gullible-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=17528","title":{"rendered":"How Gen Z Became the Most Gullible Generation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“It\u2019s a startling reality about Gen Z, backed up by multiple studies<\/a> and what we can all see for ourselves: The most online generation is also the worst at discerning fact from fiction on the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That becomes an issue when the internet \u2014 and specifically, social media \u2014 has become the main source of news for the younger generation. About three in five Gen Zers, from between the ages of 13 and 26, say they get their news from social media<\/a> at least once a week. TikTok is a particularly popular platform<\/a>: 45 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 29 said they were regular news consumers on the app.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“although people of all ages are bad at detecting misinformation \u2014 which is only getting harder amid the rise of AI \u2014 members of Gen Z are particularly vulnerable to being fooled. Why? There\u2019s a dangerous feedback loop at play. Many young people are growing deeply skeptical of institutions and more inclined toward conspiracy theories, which makes them shun mainstream news outlets and immerse themselves in narrow online communities \u2014 which then feeds them fabrications based on powerful algorithms and further deepens their distrust. It\u2019s the kind of media consumption that differs drastically from older generations who spend far more time with mainstream media, and the consequences can be grim.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Only 16 percent of Gen Zers have strong confidence<\/a> in the news. It\u2019s no surprise then that so many young people are shunning traditional publications and seeking their news on social media, often from unverified accounts that do little fact-checking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ramifications are potentially huge for American politics. Without some sort of course correction, a growing piece of the electorate will find itself falling victim to fake news and fringe conspiracy theories online \u2014 likely driving the hyperpolarization of our politics to new heights.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Gen Zers are uniquely vulnerable to misinformation compared to older age groups not just because of their social media habits, says Rakoen Maertens, a behavioral scientist at the University of Oxford, but because they have fewer lived experiences and knowledge to discern reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maertens, who helped create a test that measures a person\u2019s likelihood of being duped<\/a> by fake headlines, says that while Gen Zers were most likely to fall for fake news now<\/em>, there is hope that as time passes, they\u2019ll become better at detecting falsities, just like the generations before them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also another, far more depressing alternative that may be just as likely \u2014 that the rest of the population will go the way of Gen Z.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2025\/04\/23\/gen-z-media-tiktok-misinformation-00287561<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“It\u2019s a startling reality about Gen Z, backed up by multiple studies and what we can all see for ourselves: The most online generation is also the worst at discerning fact from fiction on the internet.
\nThat becomes an issue when the internet \u2014 and specifically, social media \u2014 has become the main source of news for the younger generation. About three in five Gen Zers, from between the ages of 13 and 26, say they get their news from social media at least once a week. TikTok is a particularly popular platform: 45 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 29 said they were regular news consumers on the app.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“although people of all ages are bad at detecting misinformation \u2014 which is only getting harder amid the rise of AI \u2014 members of Gen Z are particularly vulnerable to being fooled. Why? There\u2019s a dangerous feedback loop at play. Many young people are growing deeply skeptical of institutions and more inclined toward conspiracy theories, which makes them shun mainstream news outlets and immerse themselves in narrow online communities \u2014 which then feeds them fabrications based on powerful algorithms and further deepens their distrust. It\u2019s the kind of media consumption that differs drastically from older generations who spend far more time with mainstream media, and the consequences can be grim.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Only 16 percent of Gen Zers have strong confidence in the news. It\u2019s no surprise then that so many young people are shunning traditional publications and seeking their news on social media, often from unverified accounts that do little fact-checking.<\/p>\n

The ramifications are potentially huge for American politics. Without some sort of course correction, a growing piece of the electorate will find itself falling victim to fake news and fringe conspiracy theories online \u2014 likely driving the hyperpolarization of our politics to new heights.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Gen Zers are uniquely vulnerable to misinformation compared to older age groups not just because of their social media habits, says Rakoen Maertens, a behavioral scientist at the University of Oxford, but because they have fewer lived experiences and knowledge to discern reality.<\/p>\n

Maertens, who helped create a test that measures a person\u2019s likelihood of being duped by fake headlines, says that while Gen Zers were most likely to fall for fake news now, there is hope that as time passes, they\u2019ll become better at detecting falsities, just like the generations before them.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also another, far more depressing alternative that may be just as likely \u2014 that the rest of the population will go the way of Gen Z.”<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2025\/04\/23\/gen-z-media-tiktok-misinformation-00287561<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1967,318,2203,1029,134],"class_list":["post-17528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-disinformation","tag-false-beliefs","tag-generation-z","tag-misinformation","tag-propaganda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17529,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17528\/revisions\/17529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}