Kishore Heath: Adolescents’ trust in the news they read on social media — or the lack thereof — may be key in determining whether it contributes to their well-being, according to a Cornell-led psychology study. The researchers found that people who trusted COVID-19 information they saw on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok were more likely to feel empowered, while those with less trust were more likely to find it stressful.
The findings highlight the need for news literacy programs to help young people discern fact-based, trustworthy sources from misinformation and conspiracy theories, and how social media use affects well-being and mental health. Supports a more nuanced understanding.
“Excessive use of social media does not necessarily have positive or negative effects,” said Adam Hoffman, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and College of Human Ecology. How you engage with social media news will be more influential in determining how it affects you.
Hoffman is lead author of “The Importance of Trust in the Relationship Between COVID-19 Information from Social Media and Well-Being Among Adolescents and Young Adults,” published March 23 in PLOS ONE.
The nine co-authors are based at North Carolina State University, the University of Virginia, the South Carolina-based non-profit Adventure and in the UK, the University of Exeter and the University of Cambridge. Prior research on social media’s effects on health and mental health has been somewhat mixed, the scholars said, finding both good and bad effects.
For example, some studies have found that it may promote social connection and self-expression, while others have said that it promotes feelings of intimidation and inferiority. As the pandemic took hold in early 2020, daily exposure to negative headlines on social media helped popularize the terms “doom-scrolling” and “news avoidance” among those trying to avoid stressful media.
The virus that causes COVID-19 also became the subject of massive misinformation, which the World Health Organization dubbed an “infodemic”. In that environment, the research team asked 168 students enrolled in an after-school program for science, technology, engineering and mathematics about their engagement with COVID-19 news on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok – the most common sources of news sharing. Popular platforms, each also criticized for spreading misinformation.
Ethnically and racially diverse participants, who ranged in age from 14 to 23 years and an average age of 17, were asked how often they were exposed to COVID-19 information, how much they trusted it, and their well-being, in three ways. Measured by: emotional, psychological and social. Unsurprisingly, encountering Covid-19 news an average of a few times a week either did not affect well-being or was viewed as slightly positive.
The researchers hypothesized that exposure to pandemic news may make teens more informed about the virus and world events, even when it is difficult or depressing. Trust in the news, however, emerged as a “motivating factor” in the relationship: higher levels of trust were associated with a more positive sense of social well-being – feeling informed and connected, part of a community – and lower levels in some the opposite. cases.
While trusting the good can be good, “blind” trust in social media news also has a potential downside, with a study showing it increases acceptance of Covid-19 myths and conspiracies. This is why the researchers encourage schools and universities to actively train students in the critical thinking and analytical skills needed to identify accurate information, particularly on social media.
“It’s not that we need to trust, but we need to trust credible sources of news that are factually based and have been vetted,” Hoffman said. “That’s how young people can be informed and have a positive sense of well-being and sense of self, and that’s the best of both worlds.”