IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jpubli/v9y2021i3p40-d624671.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Disinformation and Responsibility in Young People in Spain during the COVID-19 Era

Author

Listed:
  • Juana Farfán

    (Departamento Ciencias de la Comunicación y Sociología, Facultad Ciencias de la Comunicación, Rey Juan Carlos University, 28943 Madrid, Spain)

  • María Elena Mazo

    (Departamento de Periodismo, Facultad de Comunicación, CEU San Pablo University, 28003 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the main variables that determine the relationship between disinformation and youth responsibility during the latest stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain (from April to June 2021). Are young people keeping well informed during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain? Are the youth behaving responsibly? This document presents several results regarding these questions. In our introduction, we establish a theoretical framework for the following concepts: disinformation, responsibility, credibility, and youth responsibility variables. Our primary interest is in communication factors. The applied methods are a reference review of the national and international literature surrounding this subject and qualitative opinion research conducted through discussion groups with young university students from private and public communication schools in Madrid. A recent study, held in June 2021, provides valuable material for this paper. The main results and findings are as follows: not being satisfied with the information received about COVID-19; knowledge about the most credible news sources; the connection between information and responsibility; and the solutions that are claimed to more responsible in this context by various youth participants. In conclusion, this paper confirms the first hypothesis of considering disinformation as a variable that causes a lack of personal responsibility among youths in complying with public health expectations. Regarding the second hypothesis, we verify that young people consider communication one of the main solutions for being more responsible. In other words, when presented with more information about COVID-19 they feel more aware of the disease.

Suggested Citation

  • Juana Farfán & María Elena Mazo, 2021. "Disinformation and Responsibility in Young People in Spain during the COVID-19 Era," Publications, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-8, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jpubli:v:9:y:2021:i:3:p:40-:d:624671
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/9/3/40/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/9/3/40/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Piper Liping, 2021. "COVID-19 information on social media and preventive behaviors: Managing the pandemic through personal responsibility," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    2. Dominique Augey & Marina Alcaraz, 2019. "Digital Information Ecosystems: Smart Press," Post-Print hal-02484568, HAL.
    3. Dietram A. Scheufele & Nicole M. Krause, 2019. "Science audiences, misinformation, and fake news," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116(16), pages 7662-7669, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Krista M. Milich & Natalie Fisher & Gisela Sobral, 2024. "Effective public health messaging for university students: lessons learned to increase adherence to safety guidelines during a pandemic," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Carlos Carrasco-Farré, 2022. "The fingerprints of misinformation: how deceptive content differs from reliable sources in terms of cognitive effort and appeal to emotions," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.
    3. James N. Druckman, 2022. "Threats to Science: Politicization, Misinformation, and Inequalities," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 700(1), pages 8-24, March.
    4. Xuhao Shao & Ao Li & Chuansheng Chen & Elizabeth F. Loftus & Bi Zhu, 2023. "Cross-stage neural pattern similarity in the hippocampus predicts false memory derived from post-event inaccurate information," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Philipp Lorenz-Spreen & Stephan Lewandowsky & Cass R. Sunstein & Ralph Hertwig, 2020. "How behavioural sciences can promote truth, autonomy and democratic discourse online," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(11), pages 1102-1109, November.
    6. Huiru Cao & Xiaomin Li & Yanfeng Lin & Songyao Lian, 2022. "Hybrid Fake Information Containing Strategy Exploiting Multi-Dimensions Data in Online Community," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(18), pages 1-13, September.
    7. Danielle Caled & Mário J. Silva, 2022. "Digital media and misinformation: An outlook on multidisciplinary strategies against manipulation," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 123-159, May.
    8. Abayomi Samuel Oyekale, 2021. "Willingness to Take COVID-19 Vaccines in Ethiopia: An Instrumental Variable Probit Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-11, August.
    9. Niels G. Mede, 2022. "Legacy media as inhibitors and drivers of public reservations against science: global survey evidence on the link between media use and anti-science attitudes," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Jonathon P. Schuldt & Adam R. Pearson & Neil A. Lewis jr. & Ashley Jardina & Peter K. Enns, 2022. "Inequality and Misperceptions of Group Concerns Threaten the Integrity and Societal Impact of Science," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 700(1), pages 195-207, March.
    11. Lee, Edmund W.J. & Bao, Huanyu & Wang, Yixi & Lim, Yi Torng, 2023. "From pandemic to Plandemic: Examining the amplification and attenuation of COVID-19 misinformation on social media," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    12. Basu, Arnab K. & Chau, Nancy H. & Firsin, Oleg, 2023. "Social Connections and COVID-19 Vaccination," IZA Discussion Papers 16307, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Alberto Barchetti & Emma Neybert & Susan Powell Mantel & Frank R. Kardes, 2022. "The Half-Truth Effect and Its Implications for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-19, June.
    14. Kaisu Koivumäki & Timo Koivumäki & Erkki Karvonen, 2020. "“On Social Media Science Seems to Be More Human”: Exploring Researchers as Digital Science Communicators," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 425-439.
    15. Jiexun Li & Xiaohui Chang, 2023. "Combating Misinformation by Sharing the Truth: a Study on the Spread of Fact-Checks on Social Media," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 1479-1493, August.
    16. Yunjuan Luo & Yang Cheng, 2021. "The Presumed Influence of COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media: Survey Research from Two Countries in the Global Health Crisis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-15, May.
    17. Beniamino Schiavone & Andrea Vitale & Mena Gallo & Gianlucasalvatore Russo & Domenico Ponticelli & Mario Borrelli, 2021. "Overview of Facebook Use by Hospitals in Italy: A Nationwide Survey during the COVID-19 Emergency," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-17, July.
    18. Peter D. Gluckman & Anne Bardsley & Matthias Kaiser, 2021. "Brokerage at the science–policy interface: from conceptual framework to practical guidance," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    19. Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez & Eduardo Navarro-Jiménez & Juan Antonio Simón-Sanjurjo & Ana Isabel Beltran-Velasco & Carmen Cecilia Laborde-Cárdenas & Juan Camilo Benitez-Agudelo & Álvaro Bustamante-, 2022. "Mis–Dis Information in COVID-19 Health Crisis: A Narrative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-24, April.
    20. Sheshadri Chatterjee & Ranjan Chaudhuri & Demetris Vrontis, 2023. "Role of fake news and misinformation in supply chain disruption: impact of technology competency as moderator," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 327(2), pages 659-682, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jpubli:v:9:y:2021:i:3:p:40-:d:624671. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.