The study also highlighted that less than 40% of the respondents had been taught about media literacy in school in the past two months. Over half of the teens were unable to identify fake content, but 70% could differentiate between AI-generated and real images. The most trusted news medium among teens was local TV, followed by TikTok. Despite their lack of media literacy, 94% of respondents agreed that schools should offer some form of media literacy education.
Key takeaways:
- A new study by The News Literacy Project reveals that most teens lack media literacy to differentiate true from false information online, with many unable to identify if news is biased or not.
- 80% of the teens surveyed frequently see conspiracy theories on their social media feeds, and 81% believe at least one or two of them.
- Less than 40% of the respondents have been taught about media literacy in their schools in the past two months, and more than half were unable to identify fake content.
- 94% of the respondents believe that schools should offer some type of media literacy degree.