Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 437 posts

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#41

Post by ben_w »

api wrote: post #14
taeric wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorta. Propaganda is not a new thing.

No, but I think the parent is correct. I grew up with the Internet. I was reading wacky conspiracy theories in my teens. It made me more skeptical of virtually anything I see in print since I learned how easy it is to create a BS narrative and fit details into it. I also learned what propaganda is, how it works, and how prevalent it is. Older generations grew up with a one-way opaque screen preaching to them. Obvious…

On the other other hand, I’ve seen a lot of people thinking they can determine the truth by weighing various commentators against each other and deciding which seems more likely, which I’ve just found Isaac Asimov used in Foundation (1951!) to characterise attitudes of decline.

Not sure I’ve noticed a pattern, age or otherwise, with such attitudes.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#42

Post by PaulHoule »

sametmax wrote: post #23
PaulHoule wrote: post #16

I think people older than age 65 are more interested in "news" period. Older people also vote so they are worth targeting, particularly by right-wing organizations that would like to mobilize them.

And since they are the ones with the least experience with the internet and the smaller capacity to adapt/learn/sort a lot of info, the whole thing make sense.

Some oldsters have been using the internet since before there was a world wide web so they may have more experience than youngsters. Some of them have been sharing memes on AOL since before some HN readers were born.

So far as cognitive capacity, I don't know. I've seen young people refuse to learn from other people's mistakes, take deadly risks, etc.

When it comes to the epistemology of these people the right way to think about it is the emotional gain they get out of the whole thing. That has nothing to do with the internet. Listen to the Rush Limbaugh show this afternoon and you'll realize that anyone who gets a kick out of that will be vulnerable to a particular strain of "false news".

Rush Limbaugh and his ilk have been degrading the American political environment since Bill Clinton got elected, but it was only in 2016 that it became a monster that the Republican establishment could not control in the US. (And the center-right elsewhere)

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#43

Post by arayh »

dragonwriter wrote: post #27
Liquix wrote: post #6

It makes sense - they grew up in a time where news was (relatively) reliable/truthful, so perhaps don't have the same "this may not be true" skepticism that younger generations have.

> It makes sense - they grew up in a time where news was (relatively) reliable/truthful, No, they grew up in a time when media distortion was less likely to be revealed because the major media was narrower and it's ideological biases more consistent, and voices outside the major media had major barriers to reaching any substantial audience.

I agree. Younger people are more likely to have experienced more fake news being revealed as falsified information in many forms, including fake social media accounts, photoshopped images and modified videos. I feel that this induces greater skepticism and awareness of fake news.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#44

Post by dazc »

btbuildem wrote: post #40

Having spent Christmas back home, I've come to the conclusion that people over 65 should not have the right to vote. You've had almost forty years of voting, you don't really have any future left, and your minds aren't what they used to be. Please stay out of it.

So, what you're saying is, people who have 40 years more experience of life than you have, people who've paid taxes for most of those years, people who sacrificed a better lifestyle so they could change your nappies, etc shouldn't vote because their political opinions don't chime with yours?

You don't know it yet but a lot of what you think you know stems from fake news too.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#45

Post by LanceH »

pjc50 wrote: post #22
funkythings wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Young people have always been less interested in politics. Just because you/we don't like how the elderly are voting, we don't have to make this a bigger issue than it is.

> Young people have always been less interested in politics. 1968 would like a word.

Yea, they showed up in record numbers to vote for....Nixon was it?

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#46

Post by arayh »

psychometry wrote: post #20
Liquix wrote: post #6

It makes sense - they grew up in a time where news was (relatively) reliable/truthful, so perhaps don't have the same "this may not be true" skepticism that younger generations have.

Also, the older an American is, the less education they're likely to have received [1]. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/785618/educational-attai...

Although the study mentions that older people share more fake news regardless of education.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#47

Post by ddingus »

btbuildem wrote: post #40

Having spent Christmas back home, I've come to the conclusion that people over 65 should not have the right to vote. You've had almost forty years of voting, you don't really have any future left, and your minds aren't what they used to be. Please stay out of it.

Archive this. When you reach that age, find your mind likely still nimble, read it.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#48

Post by stochastic_monk »

dragonwriter wrote: post #27
Liquix wrote: post #6

It makes sense - they grew up in a time where news was (relatively) reliable/truthful, so perhaps don't have the same "this may not be true" skepticism that younger generations have.

> It makes sense - they grew up in a time where news was (relatively) reliable/truthful, No, they grew up in a time when media distortion was less likely to be revealed because the major media was narrower and it's ideological biases more consistent, and voices outside the major media had major barriers to reaching any substantial audience.

It's both. There was spin, but there also weren't dedicated propaganda outlets (e.g., Fox News).

You are right, though -- it took a lot of work to get content to a large audience. That reduced the number of malicious agents who could and the speed with which they could successfully gain broad influence.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#49

Post by saemil »

btbuildem wrote: post #40

Having spent Christmas back home, I've come to the conclusion that people over 65 should not have the right to vote. You've had almost forty years of voting, you don't really have any future left, and your minds aren't what they used to be. Please stay out of it.

Wow. Should we also say that people younger than 30 should not vote because they do not have the life experiences necessary to make rational decisions?

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#50

Post by jessaustin »

pjc50 wrote: post #22
funkythings wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Young people have always been less interested in politics. Just because you/we don't like how the elderly are voting, we don't have to make this a bigger issue than it is.

> Young people have always been less interested in politics. 1968 would like a word.

I hope you're referring to the civil rights movement, and not to those who elected Nixon so we could have a Drug War and stay in Vietnam for another seven years.
Post reply on HN