Children, Parents, and Misinformation on Social Media

Children encounter misinformation on social media in a similar capacity as their parents. Unlike their parents, children are an exceptionally vulnerable population because their cognitive abilities and emotional regulation are still maturing, rendering them more susceptible to misinformation and falsehoods online. Yet, little is known about children’s experience with misinformation as well as what their parents think of the misinformation’s effect on child development. To answer these questions, we combined a qualitative survey of parents (n=87) with semi-structured interviews of both parents and children (n=12). We found that children identify misinformation as content used to trick people on social media, such as deep fakes, memes with political context, or celebrity/influencer rumors. Children revealed they ask Siri whether a social media video or post is created to trick them before they search on Google or ask their parents about its accuracy. Parents expressed discontent that their children are impressionable to misinformation, stating that the burden falls on them to help their children develop critical thinking skills for navigating falsehoods on social media. Here, the majority of parents felt that schools should also teach these skills as well as media literacy to their children. Misinformation, according to both parents and children, affects the family relationships especially with grandparents with different political views than theirs.