A recent study of young adults’ news consumption revealed that Gen Z is not disengaged from the news but rather is backing away from traditional journalism and news websites in favor of social media and a more personal, emotional approach to information.
The Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report surveyed young adults aged 18-24 and found that they “consume a plethora of media and information” in a variety of ways. A decade ago, young adults in the same age group said their main news source was publishers’ apps and online news websites, while some got their news from Facebook. Now, young people’s main news source is social media, and they often gravitate toward audiovisual formats like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
Young adults were more likely to say they pay attention to news creators on social media than follow traditional news brands (51% vs 39%), a shift toward a more tailored, subjective approach to the news that was not as marked in older demographics. Young people are also more likely than older adults to prefer listening to news podcasts or watching news videos and to say they are comfortable with using artificial intelligence and chatbots to gather or simplify news articles.
Gen Z is additionally more comfortable with subjective news than other generations. Thirty-two percent of young adults say it “makes no sense for news outlets to be neutral on certain issues,” compared with 19% of those 55 and older who say the same. Older adults are more likely than younger ones to say news media provide enough coverage and to consider reports to be fair.
Young people’s definition of news has expanded to include fun and entertaining content or stories that do not cover current events, such as science, technology, or mental health news. Young people are less interested in following politics than other generations and significantly fewer young adults than those aged 55 or older say they are very or extremely interested in keeping up with the news (35% vs. 55%).
According to the report, younger adults’ news consumption is becoming more “incidental” rather than intentional as Gen Z moves away from routinely checking the news. Only about two-thirds of young adults consume news daily, while nearly 9 in 10 of those aged 55 or older read the news every day.
However, young adults aren’t any more likely than other age groups to say they sometimes or often avoid reading the news. About four in 10 say they intentionally do not read the news. Though all age groups say they don’t read the news because it depresses them, younger generations are more likely to say the news is irrelevant to them or they find it difficult to understand.