Is Facebook making us dumber? Exploring social media use as a predictor of political knowledge
Is Facebook making us dumber? Exploring social media use as a predictor of political knowledge
Abstract: With social networking site (SNS) use now ubiquitous in American culture, researchers have started paying attention to its effects in a variety of domains. This study explores the relationships between measures of Facebook use and political knowledge levels using a pair of representative samples of U.S. adults. We find that although the mere use of Facebook was unrelated to political knowledge scores, how Facebook users report engaging with the SNS was strongly associated with knowledge levels. Importantly, the increased use of Facebook for news consumption and news sharing was negatively related to political knowledge levels. Possible explanations and implications are discussed.
Related Research
-
Effects of visuals in solutions journalism: A social media eye-tracking experimentBart Wojdynski, Kyser Lough, & Sohyun Park (current Ph.D. Student) (2023, August). “Effects of visuals in solutions journalism: A social media eye-tracking experiment.” Paper accepted for presentation at the 106th Annual Association for Education […]
-
Pushing Hands and Buttons: The Effects of Corporate Social Issue Stance Communication and Online Comment (In)Civility on Publics’ Emotional and Behavioral ResponsesWenqing Zhao (PhD student), Xuerong Lu (PhD alum), Yan Jin, and Toni van der Meer. “Pushing Hands and Buttons: The Effects of Corporate Social Issue Stance Communication and Online Comment (In)Civility on Publics’ Emotional […]