Lazy, immature, disrespectful, naive… The terms used to designate young people are often unflattering. It’s gotten into the heads of adults: the “djeuns” share everything and anything on their social networks and don’t check anything. Many studies like to describe the younger generations as more likely to believe all the false information circulating. Or even to adhere to many theories, like that of the platists, like a survey commissioned by Ifop and published at the start of 2023.
However, “we cannot say that all young people are gullible, says Marie Peltier, specialist in conspiracy. It’s really a received idea, a cliché to say that conspiracy is a young thing. »
All generations are affected. And for good reason, the way of getting information is no longer the same as it was twenty or thirty years ago with the paper press or television news. Today, everything is available on phone, tablet or computer and in a few clicks, all the information appears before our eyes. And sometimes even, without asking anything among the suggestions or the shares of our friends.
Better reflexes than adults
“The over 50s, who weren’t born with the Internet, don’t have the codes to use it,” adds Marie Peltier. It is therefore not easy for them to unseal the true from the false. For example, who has never seen a parent or uncle share an absurd montage on their Facebook page?
Conversely, the specialist observes that young people today are “much better trained than ten years ago. They have reflexes that there weren’t before. Laurence Corroy, researcher in media education even adds that they “spot and track fake news better than all the other generations”.
For Anton, student of 3ᵉ in Morbihyear, the reflex to avoid falling into traps is to check the information on which he doubts by browsing the recognized media. The practice is the same with Joséphine, a 3ᵉ student in Val-de-Marne. “I’ve come across information before that I wondered if it was true. So I went to check on sites like lemonde.fr or franceinfo.fr,” she says. On the side of Marine, a student of the same level in the Yvelines, it is repetition that makes reliability: “If I see the same information several times in different media, therefore from different sources, I will trust more. »
The key role of media education
These students interviewed by 20 minutes would also find it “very useful” to be able to benefit from media education courses from secondary school. “It’s at these ages that habits are formed, so don’t miss the boat! “, notes Jeannette Laquerre, journalist at Okapi, aimed at teenagers aged 10 to 15. The medium regularly hosts classes in order to “open their eyes behind the scenes” of information. Alexis, another 3ᵉ student in the Haut-Rhin, has benefited from several media education interventions. He claims to have “gained in reflexes over the years”. Conversely, Anton compares himself with his little brother, aged 10, “who tells a lot of false information”.
It is also what Mathieu Cassotti, researcher in developmental psychology, observes : “In 6ᵉ, for example, they are unable to distinguish the true from the false. They get better at the end of middle school. By conducting his study directly in schools, the researcher realized that when the source is hidden, it becomes impossible for young people to know whether something is accurate or not. This is also the case when associating information with another source. “One can frequently see montages of newspaper pages like The world or television news such as BFMTV”, he underlines.
Truth detectors on ecology
It is therefore appropriate, for all generations, to develop a critical spirit. “Media education should aim to make people understand that there is a hierarchy in sources. All are not equal, distrust must adapt, ”explains Laurence Corroy. For the researcher, it is necessary to develop, as much in young people as in adults, three capacities: the sense of the impossible, the discrimination of sources, the hierarchy. Thus, everyone will be able to doubt information – when necessary.
Finally, what comes back the most among the three researchers interviewed by 20 minutes, it is the ability to think. Rather than categorizing the true and the false, what should “be asked is rather which discourse we tolerate, and which we do not tolerate. To question how we position ourselves in relation to information,” recommends Marie Peltier. She takes the example of the invasion of the Capitol, as was the case on January 6, 2021 by supporters of Donald Trump. “In this case, a speech which says that it is necessary to invade the capitol is acceptable or not? »
To avoid pitfalls, knowledge of the world around us is also necessary. This is why young people, having less luggage, do not share the same fake news as adults,i have life experience. And vice versa with the Internet and social networks. ” Ofs international journalists have seriously believed Gorafi’s articles. This clearly shows that it is a question of the degree of understanding of a social context,” suggests Laurence Corroy.
Moreover, the latter and her colleague Mathieu Cassotti both agree on the fact that young people are particularly gifted, “even more than adults” to spot fake news on the subject of the environment and ecology. . Subjects that they master and that interest them, as noted during the 2022 presidential election during which this theme was their first concern.
The family: first sphere of influence
By helping young people to gain critical thinking and developing their mistrust, care must be taken not to “introduce excessive doubt, which generates a form of conspiracy”, explains Mathieu Cassotti. Although Anatole France said: “Let’s even doubt doubt”, there is a certain limit to keep, under penalty of becoming completely conspiratorial.
But in adhering to conspiracy theories, although the school has a role to play, it does not have all the power. With the context of distrust of institutions, there is a certain mistrust of what teachers and trainers can say. In addition, “the main sources of influence are the parents”, notes Marie Peltier. When a young person is cradled, from a very young age, in theories, each more eccentric than the other, it is difficult to question everything. Hence the importance of educating parents as well to information. The vaccine issue was an excellent example of this phenomenon.