Children in Times of a Pandemic – Do Parents More Frequently Believe in Rumors and Fake News on Social Media?
https://doi.org/10.21453/2311-3065-2023-11-1-47-60
Abstract
Crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic affect people’s behavior, since most people react with fear and fear-related behavior. In these days, social media is used by many people all over the world and thus, people as well as public and private organizations and groups actively share, post and comment messages on social media. In this way, many people can be reached in a very short time. However, not all posts on social media can be defined as a credible news. On one hand, many people, groups and organizations make use of social media to spread rumors and fakes and on the other hand, many people believe in rumors and fakes spread on social media. For many people, differentiating between news and fakes is not easy. In this context, the present article uses the quantitative data collection method to investigate whether parents in the Federal Republic of Germany do more frequently believe in rumors and fake news on social media than childless people do. The results show that people with one or more children under the age of twelve do more frequently believe in fakes, i.e. that COVID-19 vaccination changes the genetic material, than childless people do.
About the Author
O. H. Kempkens
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO – University)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Kempkens Oliver – postgraduate student at the Institute of Sociology
119454, Moscow, Vernadsky ave, 76 / 81679
Germany, Munich, Pienzenauer str., 14
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Review
For citations:
Kempkens O.H. Children in Times of a Pandemic – Do Parents More Frequently Believe in Rumors and Fake News on Social Media? Communicology. 2023;11(1):47-60. https://doi.org/10.21453/2311-3065-2023-11-1-47-60
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