The News Literacy Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization, published a study Last week that shows the alarming frequency with which American teenagers are exposed to (and believe) conspiracy theories on social media. But research also found that teaching students media literacy is associated with healthy online habits, such as fact-checking before sharing it on social media.
And an overwhelming majority of teens surveyed (94%) want their schools to teach media literacy, although only 39% reported receiving that type of instruction during the 2023-24 school year.
The study – Information literacy in the United States: A survey of adolescents' information attitudes, habits, and skills. — surveyed more than 1,000 youth ages 13 to 18 and highlights the pressing need for systemic news literacy instruction in our nation's schools. It was launched to coincide with the first day of US Media Literacy Week.
“As we approach the final stretch of an election season defined by the spread of information disorder, this survey shows that we urgently need to prepare our young people to discern between credible news and misleading or false information,” said the CEO and president of the News Literacy Project. Carlos Salter. “American teenagers need to learn news literacy skills so they can be more informed voters of the future.”
Among the findings:
- Eight out of 10 American teenagers say see conspiracy theories on social media at least once a week. Some of the most frequently cited narratives include The 2020 election is rigged or stolen, the COVID-19 vaccine is dangerous, and the Earth is flat..
- Of the teens who reported seeing conspiracy theories, 81% report believing in at least one of them..
- Almost half of adolescents (45%) believe that the press does more damage to democracy to protect it.
- Eight out of 10 say Information from news organizations is no more unbiased than that of other online content creators..
- Less than a quarter of teens (23%) say they use generative ai chatbots once a week or more, challenging the notion that artificial intelligence tools have already changed the way young people approach schoolwork.
“This study underscores how vital news literacy skills are in a news environment dominated by social media. These platforms harbor harmful conspiracy theories, and our results show that American teenagers are not exempt from being exposed to them, or even potentially influenced by them,” said Dr. Kim Bowman, co-author of the report. “We need to do everything we can to make sure young people know how to protect themselves from falsehoods, and this report shows that our students are strongly calling for media literacy to be taught in schools.”
There was also reason to be encouraged that media literacy instruction can help teens more successfully navigate our information ecosystem. Among the findings, adolescents with at least some exposure to media literacy instruction were more likely to:
- participate in civic activities, such as fighting misinformation.
- correctly identify an image featuring a real person versus an ai-generated image.
- They report greater trust in the media and more active information habits.
The study provides recommendations for parents and guardians, educators, policymakers, and journalists to ensure that students have the knowledge and ability to participate in civic society as critical and well-informed thinkers when they graduate from high school.
“He Journalism Literacy in the United States The report identifies that the nation's youth want media literacy to be offered in schools, and the findings could not make it clearer that the topic must become a curricular priority,” said Dr. Lance Holbert, director of the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Education. Civic (LAIC). ) at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, which was not involved in the study. “It should serve as a wake-up call to educate the country's youth about the value of quality journalism for a sustainable democracy.”
Access the full report and downloadable graphs. here. B-roll and classroom footage are available upon request.
About the Information Literacy Project
The News Literacy Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization building a national movement to ensure that all students have news literacy skills before they graduate high school, equipping them with the knowledge and ability to participate in civic society as critical and well-informed thinkers. Founded in 2008, NLP is the nation's leading provider of journalism education, working with educators in all 50 states. Get more information at www.newslit.org.
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