The authors of the institute’s report said there was evidence that audiences “continue to selectively avoid important stories such as the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis as they cut back on depressing news and look to protect their mental health”.
Bingo. However,
But the figures are much higher for young users. One in five (20%) 18 to 24-year-olds get news from TikTok, up from 15% last year. The report says the platform “is the fastest growing social network in our survey”. However, it is not necessarily news from traditional news providers. TikTok users are more likely to get news on the platform from celebrities, influencers or ordinary creators than mainstream news outlets or journalists.
This is far more worrisome.
Yes, bad news for democracy or society in general. Just look at Russia to see how a politically disengaged population fares.
I also wonder how much post-fact agendas have played their part.
I’d argue that the population isn’t politically disengaged - Millennials and especially Gen Z are showing high rates of political participation relative to historic trends.
People have simply shifted to different sources. And this isn’t just true for those on TikTok either - look at how many grandparents get their news from questionable Facebook groups.
The issue is that the internet - while making everything more accessible - has also proliferated sources that are confident, but incorrect (whether out of malice or not).
Duh. Constant depressing topics and a shitty world will kind of cause something like that. Not to mention most articles these days are clickbait or highly agenda-driven.
People are burnt out. I am worried about the trend of people getting news from places like tiktok going up
Half the problem is that a lot of news is not news worthy. Opinion and conjecture or what some bloke said is treated equally as things like mass shootings. Abd half the time the news is lacking in depth or analysis. I hate that Last Night Tonight is more insightful than the evening news.
Opinion and conjecture or what some bloke said is treated equally as things like mass shootings.
This is more a reflection of your news diet than the wider world of journalism.
Several issues here, but the top one is: no definition of “news.”
You might think that’s readily apparent, but I guarantee no one else draws the line between news and entertainment exactly where you do. This is unfortunately by design because outlets that make no differentiation get more clicks — and people who have consumed zero news believe they had a Thanksgiving-size portion of it and are well-informed.
When most “news” is opinion based speculation this makes sense.
I wonder how much of this has to do with the fact that most “Big” news sites are paywalled nowadays. Hard to read a WaPo article if you, well, can’t read it. We’re pretty much forced to other 3rd party social media sites to get news beyond headlines.
I pretty much completely cut news out months ago and my mental health has improved immensely. I totally get the importance staying knowledgeable and up to date on world news, but it was just too much for me.
It feels like we need to cut more and more things out of our daily routines to maintain a good mental health level. News, the list of social media sites, talk radio.
Imagine that. Everyone already knows everything is shit.
BREAKING: Everything is still fucking shite!
Thanks man.
When capitalism falls and we have billionaire heads on pikes, let me know. That would be some pretty good uplifting news.
