• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 2, 2015

Researchers and social critics have worried that the newest generation of American adults is less interested in news than those who grew up in the pre-digital age. But a new study that looks closely at how people learn about the world on these different devices and platforms finds that this newest generation of American adults is anything but “newsless,” passive, or civically uninterested.

According to the new study by the Media Insight Project, a collaboration of the American Press Institute and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, much of the concern has come from data that suggest adults age 18-34, Millennials, do not visit news sites, read print newspapers, watch television news, or seek out news in great numbers. The worry is that Millennials' awareness of the world as a result, is narrow, their discovery of events is incidental and passive, and that news is just one of many random elements in a social feed.

But Millennials consume news and information in strikingly different ways than previous generations, says the report, and their paths to discovery are more nuanced and varied than some may have imagined,

Virtually all Millennials, for instance, regularly consume a mix of hard news, lifestyle news, and practical “news you can use,” the study finds. Millennials are more likely to report following politics, crime, technology, their local community, and social issues than report following popular culture and celebrities, or style and fashion. 45% of these young adults regularly follow five or more “hard news” topics.

The data also suggest that social networks are exposing Millennials to more news than they were initially seeking, says the report. Overall, just 47% who use Facebook say that getting news is a main motivation for visiting, but it has become one of the significant activities they engage in once they are there. 88% of Millennials get news from Facebook regularly, and more than half of them do so daily.

Among the study’s findings:

-       While Millennials are highly equipped, it is not true they are constantly connected. More than 90% of adults age 18-34 surveyed own smartphones, and half own tablets. But only 51% say they are online most or all of the day.

-       Email is the most common digital activity, but news is a significant part of the online lives of Millennials, as well. 69% report getting news at least once a day; 40% several times a day.

-       Millennials acquire news for many reasons, which include a fairly even mix of civic motivations (74%), problem-solving needs (63%), and social factors (67%) such as talking about it with friends.

-       Contrary to the idea that social media creates a polarizing “filter bubble,”exposing people to only a narrow range of opinions, 70% of Millennials say that their social media feeds are comprised of diverse viewpoints evenly mixed between those similar to and different from their own, says the report. An additional 16% say their feeds contain mostly viewpoints different from their own. And 73% of those exposed to different views report they investigate others’ opinions at least some of the time, with a quarter saying they do it always or often.

-       Facebook has become a nearly ubiquitous part of digital Millennial life. On 24 separate news and information topics probed, Facebook was the No. 1 gateway to learn about 13 of those, and the second-most cited gateway for seven others.

-       At the same time, younger Millennials express growing frustration with Facebook, and there are signals in the research that the use of social media will continue to splinter with time. Younger Millennials use more social networks (an average of four) than older ones (who average three). They are also more likely than older ones to have cut back on their social media use or dropped a social network completely. In the longer interviews, these younger Millennials describe Facebook like a utility they have to use rather than one they enjoy.

-       When Millennials want to dig deeper on a subject, search is the dominant method cited by 57%, and it is the one cited most often as useful, followed by news sites at 23%. Only 7% cite checking Facebook to learn more.

-       When Millennials do dig deeper, 57% say the most important qualities that make a destination useful are that they know the source well, and 52% report that this digital source is transparent and rich with references and links.

-       Millennials, however, do not worry much about privacy, says the report. Only 2 in 10 worry a good deal about privacy in general. And when asked about specific concerns, only 22% worry even a little about government surveillance; 30% worry even a little about corporate America knowing too much about them. The biggest worry, 38%, is identity theft.

-       Despite this lack of overall concern, 86% of Millennials have changed their behavior online, mostly to control what people know about them. 52% have changed their privacy settings, while 37% say they are now more likely to remove information or photos of themselves that are embarrassing or immature.

For additional information from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, please visit here for the PDF file.