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your nan isn’t the news feed’s only victim
Research shows that almost 80% of Gen Z are worried about misinformation, yet most still spend at least 2.5 hours per day on social media. What’s keeping everyone glued to the algorithm?
By now, we’re probably all aware of misinformation online.
Social media has become the main source of news for Gen Z, with TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat feeds dwarfing traditional outlets like the BBC and The Guardian. We’ve written before about how younger people are steadily drifting away from legacy media, instead opting for independent sources and online creators. This pivot is making misinformation far easier to spread and access, influencing opinions on everything from vaccines to sporting events. We’re seeing the consequences of this phenomenon in real time, as politics become more polarising and extreme views find mainstream audiences.
Who is most affected? In an April 2026 Ofcom report, older adults over the age of 55 were found to be ‘disproportionately vulnerable to online scams, deepfakes, and fake social media profiles.’ Another study by the American Psychological Association, published earlier this year, concluded that ‘older people exhibit greater partisan bias in sharing and evaluating misinformation accuracy.’
Put simply, boomers are most likely to share false information online, and are seemingly unable to determine whether a post is genuine.
While that may sound like Gen Z are off the hook, there is growing concern that AI-generated videos, chatbots, and deepfakes could be misleading younger people at a similar rate. The UK’s Commission into Countering Online Conspiracies recently found that Gen Z are increasingly being exposed to radicalised and manipulated algorithms as human-made content takes a back seat. We’re all at risk of being shown something that isn’t true.
Gen Z seems to be aware of this problem, if recent data is to be believed. According to a study by IPA TouchPoints, almost 80% of those aged between 16-34 are ‘concerned by the amount of misinformation’ available on social media. Yet, despite that worry, Gen Z still spends over 2.5 hours online per day, suggesting that many feel obligated to log on and engage, regardless of any negativity they may feel. Some researchers even say that Gen Z adults spend 9 hours a day looking at screens.
None of this is surprising; tech companies have a long, documented history of deliberately designing their products to be as rewarding to the human brain as possible.
Features like infinite scrolling, push notifications, autoplaying content, and gamifying interactions with other users (Snapchat Streaks, for example) all work to keep you on your phone for longer. This, in turn, drives tech company share prices up and secures future funding for big firms like Meta and Google. Now, with AI emerging as a main industry focus, it’s becoming harder than ever to step away or feel confident that what you’re seeing is real.
This is compounded even further by the fact that Gen Z have grown up with social media and algorithms since early childhood. Their digital identity often runs in tandem with their actual, real life, and is a space they use to work, socialise, wind down, and educate themselves in. Young people have to be plugged in and switched on if they want to succeed, which means that nearly nobody can simply walk away from their screens for good. The internet has a chokehold on basic societal necessities, and has become an essential building block of adulthood. It’s why being ‘offline’ has become its own type of luxury.
Governments are beginning to recognise and respond to some of the negative effects of social media and its addictive tendencies.
In Australia and the UK, new restrictions are being put in place to try and curb screen time and keep exposure down, though we’ve argued that this may wind up being a net negative for those under 16 and could reduce their independence. Given that so much of our daily interactions and consumption is based on social media access, it’s a tough line trying to balance health concerns with functional living. It seems a solution hasn’t been found just yet, and we’ve no real way of stopping misinformation across nearly all social media platforms.
It’s easy to dismiss Gen Z’s social media addiction issues as a symptom of laziness or shrinking attention spans, but the reality is that our modern infrastructure now requires us to be online. We can’t reasonably find work, keep an active social life, or maintain a daily schedule without using screens or social media, which makes it tricky to go cold turkey. Having a digital identity isn’t simply for entertainment today like it was, say, fifteen years ago.
We need to be online to function – which makes it all the more difficult to pull away from addictive feeds and platforms that have literally been designed to keep us coming back.
See also:
- Wimbledon bets on influencers to reach Gen Z
- How a fragmented internet is reshaping Gen Z marketing
- Love Island tanks as Gen Z cools on influencer culture
