The Extent of Awareness of Young Academics of the Dangers of Exposure to News Content on Social Networks

This study aims to analyze the variables through which young people realize how news content presented on social networking sites affects them and others where the present study assumes the taking place of the third-person effect among the users of the social networking sites particularly in respect of that which relates to the news content published through them where this happens through the effect of the intermediate variables including the pluralistic ignorance and uniqueness. The field study sample was selected in accordance with the purposive sample method. Accordingly, the form has been sent electronically to a sample including 360 youths.
The study concluded that despite young people's increased reliance on social media to get the news, a small number of young people trust the press content received through social media. According to the results of the study, the tendency of young academics towards news content via social media is generally neutral.
In addition, the results of the study show the third person effect where it is indicated that young people view others' tendencies towards news content presented through social media as more positive than the tendency young people adopt by themselves towards this content. Moreover, young people see that the negativity of the press content they receive via social media has a more negative effect on others than on the young people themselves.
Although there is no difference among young people according to the variables of the study (gender, time of life and unanimity) in their awareness of the negative effects of the press content of the social media on the self, there appeared statistically significant differences based on the sense of uniqueness in the case of people with elevated sense of uniqueness.
The study indicated that the examined individuals' orientation towards the news content presented through social media increases in the case of the individuals with low sense of unanimity and uniqueness.
The field study indicated that 88.1% of young people support the requirement of subjecting the news content of social media censorship since it is shown that girls support this censorship more than the boys. It also showed that those who are strongly aware of the third-person effect are strongly supporting the idea of imposing censorship or restrictions on the social media's press content.