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Introduction
Considerable attention has been paid to such a phenomenon as fake news relatively recently. This issue was popularized during the elections in 2016 when even politicians everywhere began to draw the attention of voters to such news feeds (Allcott & Gentzkow, 2017). The problem of hoaxes or misleading in the public domain has always had various economic, political, and other interests underneath. Different channels through which this news reaches readers, as well as different reactions to such statements, lead to controversy within society. Often, a split occurs between representatives of different generations for several reasons. This work aims to investigate this phenomenon in the context of a generational split.
Phenomenon Description
Information in the modern world comes from everywhere, and a side effect of such a dense information field is not only an overload on the nervous system but also a fake. Every day there are more and more messages that have nothing to do with reliable facts. It may not be evident at first glance, but the mission of fakes is destructive to society. Moreover, if some fakes are conventionally harmless, then most of them pose a threat to human health or are a tool for manipulating consciousness (Berghel, 2018). Fake news spreads panic, prompts disorder and thoughtless action, misleads, deceives, and creates a persistent sense of anxiety and uncertainty in people; therefore, such information spread negative emotions within society. A one-sided presentation of a material characterizes fake news without citing the source, overwhelming emotions, and full of headlines, which sometimes have a different meaning than an actual news feed. Consequently, this phenomenon has confirmed the need for critical thinking, the lack of which contributes to the spread of fake news.
With the development and ubiquity of social networks, which many users began to use as a source of news, the opinion began to spread that social networks have the fakest news. However, in the wake of such news, such delusions were not uncommon (Allen, 2020). First, in 2016, this phenomenon received considerable attention due to an oversupply of such news feeds on social networks (Allen, 2020). Second, fake news received political popularization just before the elections, which questioned both the candidates campaigns and democratic principles in general (Allcott & Gentzkow, 2017). Finally, the percentage of news on social media compared to other media was not overwhelming, and in some cases, was even lower (Allen, 2020). Consequently, social media only served as a determinant of the spread of this news, but it certainly was not an absolute hotbed.
The main channels for receiving news among Americans are television and online resources on computers and mobile devices. It is scarce that the same news brand covers all three channels, and even less often, the end consumer uses all three channels (Allen, 2020). However, in any case, the influence is complex: even if people do not watch television, they may depend on the opinions of friends and relatives who receive information from this particular channel. Social networks, in this case, represent the place where the greatest concentration and volume of information, and therefore, the influence of a single news item is significantly reduced. However, with the right skill and for political reasons, it is possible to manipulate the most amenable people with the help of news on social networks (Berghel, 2018). Below are the main reasons for the generational discord over fake news.
Generational Disagreements
The percentage of social media use between young people and older people varies. It is pretty evident that young people use social networks much more often, and, as a result, for this generation, this channel is the primary source of news (Generation Z Beats Boomers in Spotting Fake News, 2020). At the same time, the older generation still takes news from television or the press. The first disagreement lies in the level of trust in sources: Millennials, due to the lack of convenient alternatives to a smartphone, consider news in online sources as the most reliable, while most baby boomers trust television (Generation Z Beats Boomers in Spotting Fake News, 2020). At the same time, Generation Z uses equally different channels for obtaining information; however, they do not trust online sources.
The reason is that there are too many news feeds on the network, and not everyone should be trusted. Many of them are introduced to target a specific audience with different motives (Berghel, 2018). Notably, the older generation is more likely to distribute fake news than Generation Z and millennials (Generation Z Beats Boomers in Spotting Fake News, 2020). Here lies another aspect on which conflicts between generations are possible: the ability to navigate the network.
Due to their lack of experience and education in the global digital environment, the older generations often do not have experience in recognizing the authenticity of information and are looking for confirmation of their thoughts. Older generations tend to trust headlines without further verification and following links, often broadcast through social media advertising mechanisms (Loos & Nijenhuis, 2020). The requirements for standards were more serious in the days of older generations, including in the media: rivalry contributed to significant discoveries in science and medicine. Starting with generation X and millennials, people have received more choice and freedom, were no longer bound by common goals, and became more selective, including news sources. For example, millennials have access to a wider range of different resources and use network literacy for various tasks, such as obtaining information about an employer, travel information, and a service provider (Ng et al., 2017). The older generations are not accustomed to a wide diversification of information on each issue, and therefore they are more focused on the usual television or print media.
Another ground for conflicts between generations can be political interests and the same percentage of interest in the countrys political life. Research has shown that the interest of young people in politics in general declines every year (Dubois & Blank, 2018). This leads to the fact that a simple inattention to the problem on the part of the younger generation can be negatively perceived by older, more interested people. Conflict can also flare up between stakeholders due to differences in views. A vast amount of opinions and news, including fake news, severely impacts people as voters, which can even affect the election results (Allcott & Gentzkow, 2017). As a result, the influence can extend to forming each individuals point of view, which can vary from generation to generation. Moreover, the audience, who more often draws information from television, has a more remarkable similarity of opinions in general due to the slight diversification of possible channels and programs (Allen, 2020). There are special channels on the network that broadcast exclusively fake news.
Statistical studies show that the scale of the problem is not that great. Fake news is only about 1% of the total broadcast content (Allen, 2020). The problem lies precisely with consumers: because of them, such news can be spread through social networks; because of their inability to detect a lie, such news deserves attention. This fact poses a significant threat to democracy and a healthy society since conflicts arise between its representatives while the perpetrators of conflicts continue to create pretexts.
The emphasis on the topic of fake news, on the one hand, opened up opportunities for offenders, but on the other, increased control within the bona fide media. There is a relatively extensive list of possibilities for checking the news for its veracity, and this list makes it much easier to check the news on the net (Dubois & Blank, 2018). A conflict can flare up with the elders based on the possibility of an evidence base, considering the experience of younger generations with such information. Possible consequences are the differentiation of society and the emergence of conflicts within it without the full-time participation of the perpetrator of the conflict. Fake news can worsen the social situation, triggering anxiety, and unrest, which can have a high-security cost. This generational division will be particularly evident in institutions in the form of collisions, such as educational and medical institutions. As a result, the quality of the services provided, the professionalism and reputation of representatives of the sphere will suffer, and the level of trust among young people in the relevant institutions will suffer.
Conclusion
In this paper, the fake news impact on the emergence of conflicts between different generations was carried out. As it turned out, disagreements can arise due to differences in the channels of information consumption, the level of trust in them, interest in the countrys politics, and the political interests of the individual. However, the impact is often complex, and cannot be described by information consumption and political views alone. The modern world is satiated with information, especially in the network, and the ability to determine not only its truthfulness and adequacy but also its potentiality is the most important for the formation of ones point of view.
References
Allcott, H., & Gentzkow, M. (2017). Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(2), 211-36. Web.
Allen, J. (2020). Evaluating the fake news problem at the scale of the information ecosystem. Science Advances, 6(14), Eaay3539. Web.
Berghel, H. (2018). Malice Domestic: The Cambridge Analytica Dystopia. Web.
Dubois, E., & Blank, G. (2018). The echo chamber is overstated: The moderating effect of political interest and diverse media. Information, Communication & Society, 21(5), 729-745. Web.
Generation Z Beats Boomers in Spotting Fake News. (2020). VoaNews. Web.
Loos, E., & Nijenhuis, J. (2020, July). Consuming Fake News: A Matter of Age? The perception of political fake news stories in Facebook ads. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 69-88). Springer, Cham. Web.
Ng, E. S., Lyons, S. T., & Schweitzer, L. (2017). Millennials in Canada: Young workers in a challenging labour market. In The Palgrave handbook of age diversity and work (pp. 325-344). Palgrave Macmillan, London. Web.
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