Tracking Adolescents' Susceptibility to Misinformation in the Digital Age

In the digital age, social media has become a primary source of information for adolescents. While these platforms offer opportunities for social connection and learning, they also expose young people to a vast amount of misinformation which could be false or misleading content that can influence their beliefs and behaviors. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable because their cognitive and critical thinking skills are still developing, and social influences such as peer presence can amplify their susceptibility. The spread of misinformation among youth poses serious health, safety, and societal risks, including participation in harmful challenges, vaccine hesitancy, and the endorsement of conspiracy theories. Understanding how adolescents process and respond to social media content is essential to develop targeted and fool-proof strategies to foster resilience against misinformation and protect their healthy development. 
 
This project seeks to investigate how adolescents perceive, attend to, and judge social media content, with a focus on understanding the visual and social factors that influence their susceptibility to misinformation. By conducting 2 studies to identify what captures their attention and how a highly naturalistic environment impacts their judgments, Dr Chen’s research at Leiden University aims to uncover the underlying cognitive and social mechanisms that make adolescents more vulnerable to false or misleading information online. She even theorizes that susceptibility to misinformation leads to increased costs for insurance companies as misinformation fuels dangerous social media trends which negatively affect adolescents more than adults. 

 
In order to bring this issue to light, the study will employ innovative eye-tracking techniques to observe adolescents’ visual attention as they freely browse social media videos in settings that closely resemble their real-life social experiences. Study 1 will use a remote eye-tracker to examine attention allocation and veracity judgments during social media browsing. Study 2 will employ wearable eye-tracking glasses to investigate how peer presence influences adolescents’ attention and judgments, simulating real-life social interactions. Combined, these studies will generate precise, ecologically valid data on visual attention patterns and decision-making processes related to misinformation. 

 
The findings are expected to reveal key visual and social cues that draw adolescents’ attention and influence their judgments about the truthfulness of social media content.  Insights from this research will even give a peek into adolescent’s information preferences on platforms such as Tik Tok or Instagram that may inform the design of targeted educational programs aimed at enhancing critical thinking and attention management skills among youth. Additionally, the results will support the development of more effective, evidence-based communication strategies for schools, policymakers, and scientific organizations to better engage adolescents on social media platforms. Ultimately, this project aims to contribute to safeguarding adolescent development by promoting informed, critical engagement with digital information, thereby reducing the societal impact of misinformation in the digital age.