Facebook, fake news and clickbait: how teenagers view the media

'I don't necessarily trust what I read on Facebook'
– Harry McCann, 18, sixth-year student in Kildare

“Many people go to the first source they see online and think they have the facts; I don’t know anyone who looks for a second source.

"I use Facebook and Twitter a lot, and I only get updates from verified news journalists. I don't necessarily trust what I read on Facebook. Over the past few years, I set up TrendsterPress.com, which is an online space to give the views of young people on different issues.

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Naomi o’Mara, 18, first-year history and politics student at the University of Limerick: “We were learning about Enda Kenny, but that’s hardly engaging.”

“The best political education I got was not through CSPE, which can be quite basic, but through history. What happened then and what is happening now, and what are the links? History tells us this.”

'We were learning about Enda Kenny, but that's hardly engaging'
- Naomi O'Mara, 18, first year history and politics student at the University of Limerick

"I think a lot has to be done to improve political education in schools. When I was in third year, I said I hated politics: it was dull and uninteresting. We were learning about what Enda Kenny does, but that's hardly engaging. Everyone knows that they will get an A or B in CSPE; what we don't know is how our voice can matter and how we can engage with the political process.

“What could be done to engage us? We could have more discussions about politics, or we could answer questions about our views to see where we lie on the political spectrum .”

'We're being spoon-fed when we should be trained to think critically'
- Alana Daly Mulligan, 17, sixth-year student in Waterford

"I'm on the internet all the time, constantly reading to keep myself informed and I'm involved with SpunOut.ie. My sources include Facebook, Refinery29, Buzzfeed, The Irish Times and occasionally the Irish Independent.

“Our education system should be teaching us what is happening in our world. We certainly weren’t encouraged to express opinions during last year’s general election. In history, I’d like to learn more about fascism and communism and how it relates to the modern world. We should be encouraged to read more that we don’t agree with.

“Teachers do their best but are restrained by the curriculum. There is very little room for critical thinking in the system as it stands; we have to pretend to love Shakespeare even when we don’t. We’re being spoon-fed when we should be trained to think critically about the world around us.”

'A lot of young people don't know how to tell satire from news'
- Edward Leonard, 18, student in Athlone

“Politics isn’t really encouraged in school. In third year CSPE, we looked at EU politics and even the teacher acknowledged that nobody really wanted to study it. CSPE is more about the facts and isn’t as engaging as it could be. I had the paper answered in half an hour and came out with an A.

“For CSPE, an action project accounts for 60 per cent of the marks: our class all did the same topic: animal care. I’d much rather have written about how politics affects young people.

“Political education consists of learning what ministers do, or maybe a quick trip to the Dáil and a quick photo with the local TD. It should be more engaging. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and I get some news from Facebook.

"But a lot of young people don't know how to tell satire from news, let alone real and fake news: a friend told me about a story on rent, but they didn't realise that the website they read it on, Waterford Whispers, is a satirical site."

'Young people see fact and academic findings as negligible'
- Jane Hayes-Nally, 17, president of the Irish Second-Level Students' Union

“The Kardashian family makes up more than 40 per cent of an Irish girl’s Instagram feed, but bears no actual significance to her reality, her family, her future or her life.

“”People are much more likely to share media or articles from their “preferred” news source, which mainly feature scandalous headlines and enticing language to persuade the reader to absolute conviction in their “preferred” cause.

“Some news sources are guilty of publishing clickbait, and news organisations play a major role in propagating hoaxes, false claims, rumours and viral content, a lot of the time around sensitive and rousing subjects like mental health, cancer and homelessness.

“It is a sad day when the the most provocative and rousing articles gain attention and popularity, regardless of their veracity, but young people see transparency, fact and academic findings as negligible and insignificant.”