Abstract: News consumption enhances the contact experience for first-generation immigrants and sojourners in their acculturation to the host culture. Using acculturation theory, this study explores interdisciplinary concepts. The authors argue that first-generation immigrants and sojourners’ level of the English proficiency, length of stay in the host culture and their news consumption impact their susceptibility to disinformation. As foreign-born residents make up close to 14% of the U.S. population, this study will provide meaningful insights.
Tag: news consumption
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.