A new national survey from the Media Insight Project reveals a striking generational divide in news consumption: teenagers are far more likely than adults to turn to social media platforms and online influencers for information, even as they harbor deep skepticism about the trustworthiness of those sources.
The findings, drawn from interviews with more than 1,000 teens and 1,000 adults conducted in February, show that 57% of Americans ages 13 to 17 get news from social media at least once a day, compared with 36% of adults. The gap widens further when looking at independent content creators. Fifty-seven percent of teenagers said they get information on national issues and events from influencers or independent content creators at least “sometimes,” while only 43% of adults reported doing so.
“Traditional national and local outlets continue to stand out as a trusted source, but people, especially younger audiences, are also building relationships with younger creators they believe are transparent and authentic,” said Robyn Tomlin, executive director of the American Press Institute. “That reality has enormous implications for the future of news.”
The survey, a collaboration among The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, the American Press Institute, Northwestern University, and the University of Maryland, found that television and digital news sites remain relevant for both generations. About 4 in 10 adults and a similar share of teenagers said they watch news on television at least once a day, and a comparable share use digital news sites or apps.
“The idea that television is going away is a misapprehension,” said Tom Rosenstiel, a journalism professor at the University of Maryland who worked on the survey. “Watching news through video is not going away. It’s changing. The way you see it on YouTube is different than on the ‘CBS Evening News.’”
Teenagers are also more likely to use search engines and artificial intelligence chatbots as gateways to news. About 4 in 10 teens get news daily from search, while roughly 2 in 10 said the same about AI chatbots. Yet trust in these tools remains low. Just 11% of teenagers expressed “a great deal of confidence” in the information they get from AI chatbots, compared with 4% of adults. Only 12% of teens said they have high confidence in news from influencers.
Teens were, however, more confident in their ability to tell AI-generated content from human-produced material: about one-third expressed a high level of certainty, versus about 2 in 10 adults.
The survey also documented widespread news fatigue, particularly around politics. Most U.S. adults and teenagers said they “often” or “sometimes” try to avoid news about national government and politics, and roughly 6 in 10 said they actively sidestep stories about President Donald Trump.
That avoidance comes alongside a shift in what kinds of news young people seek out. Teens were more interested in celebrity, music, movies, sports and entertainment coverage, while adults showed greater interest in political news, business, and the economy.
Rosenstiel suggested that the narrow definition of “real news” used by traditional journalism may itself be part of the problem. “Part of the problem for traditional journalism,” he said, “is the traditional journalism definition of what is real news.” He added that the most important journalism for many people may be the kind that helps them live their lives, even if it falls outside conventional categories.