Adults aged 65 and over are more likely to share fake news online than those aged 18-29, according to research. The number of smartphone, tablet and social media users over the age of 65 is also increasing. That’s why many researchers are testing digital literacy programs to help people over 65 get used to new information online, Popular Science reported.
But are these efforts really effective? A new study published in Scientific Reports in April by researchers from Stanford University reveals that these programs work.
They found that adults who participated in a one-hour course to determine and verify the reliability of online information performed better on the fake news assessment test than a control group who had received no training.
Provided a non-profit journalism enterprise education program for online course. This course used texts, videos, interactive exercises and quizzes to teach participants how to check the accuracy of information they find online. This included showing them how to “side reading” or browsing the web to see what other sources were saying about a particular claim, and performing reverse image searches to see if a photo had been tampered with or taken out of context.
The course also focused on Facebook as it is the most popular platform among older adults.
The researchers wrote in the article, “Unlike younger individuals, older adults are not “digital natives” and may have less experience using contemporary media technologies and platforms. Therefore, additional education programs need these adults to examine the new information they encounter online. says they can provide the basic research skills they hear
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