In a study of 3,500 Facebook users in the run-up to the 2016 Presidential election, a team found that users 65 and older posted seven times as many articles from fake news websites as adults 29 and younger.
What is wrong with old people? The authors theorized that seniors came to age before computers were ubiquitous, so they may lack digital media literacy. Another possibility is that aging reduces the mental ability to discern fact from fiction.
[See Niraj Chokshi, “Older, Yes, but Wiser? Seniors Share More Fake News,” New York Times, (11 Jan. 2109), p. B-3].
Luckily there are a few seniors who are so set in their ways that they refuse to join Facebook. Did I say that right? You have to join, right? Those old people never forward fake news. They read reputable newspapers, and when people forward them crap, a few of them have learned how to delete stuff.
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