August 31, 2022
Some may discredit Gen Z and millennials for being oblivious to current events when the reality is that 79% consume news daily, and a third pay out-of-pocket for news subscriptions. A New Media Insight Project survey looked at the media consumption habits of 16- to 40-year-olds and found that young people are not only tapped into the news, but also exhausted from the constant firehosing of misinformation to the barrage of tragedy news bits. Here’s what we learned from the survey:
News consumption is high. While young people have adopted new habits and sources of news, they haven’t abandoned traditional news completely, with 74% still tapping into traditional outlets weekly and 45% doing so daily. More than half find local TV stations, newspapers or their websites as completely or very reliable sources for “hard news.”
Mistrust and misinformation. Seven in 10 young people reported feeling personally victimized by misinformation, and ??9 out of 10 feel misinformation is a problem but are unsure where to direct blame. Nearly half of respondents believe media coverage of immigrants, Black Americans, and Hispanic Americans is slightly or totally inaccurate.
Social media sources. An overwhelming 91% say they get their weekly news from social media. Young people primarily get their news from YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, while a quarter get their news from TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitter. A considerable number of young people are also looking to Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitch, and even NextDoor for news.
Digital fatigue and self-monitoring. Seven years ago, 53% of young people said they enjoyed getting the news or found it entertaining; today, that has dropped to 32%. Now, almost a third are trying to manage the constant bombardment of information by setting time limits spent on apps or online.
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