Perception of Fake News: A Survey of Post-Millennials

This study examined post-millennials’ news consumption habits and perception of fake news in social media. A survey was completed by a non-random sample of 415 students at State University of New York in Oneonta during the academic year 2017-2018. The results revealed that more than half of post-millennials accessed various social media several times a day, while nearly one in five admitted accessing social media every hour of the day. As for the amount of time devoted to social media, nearly one-third of the students admitted using social media for 7-10 hours per day, and slightly less than one-third of the students spent 5-6 hours per day on social media. With regard to news consumption habits of post-millennials, data analysis revealed that nine in 10 students used their smartphones to check the news online, and most students used multiple sources of news. About four-fifths of the students obtained their news from online newspapers and magazines, while three-fifths of them also used social media for obtaining news. As for the amount of time devoted to consuming news, four-fifths of the students indicated that they spent 1-2 hours in a typical day for news consumption. In terms of exposure to fake news, nine in 10 students indicated that they had seen some news on social media that turned out to be fake news. These findings may have significant implications for social media as they plan to counter the proliferation of fake news on their platforms.