The Jean Jaurès Foundation and the Reboot Foundation published an Ifop study this week on “ the scientific misinformation of young people in the age of social networks “.
Four years ago, an American magazine, Science Advances, revealed that Americans over the age of 65 shared fake news on social networks seven times more than others. For 18-24 year olds, what is striking according to this Ifop poll, that’s mostly what they believe. Only one in three thinks that science brings man more good than harm whereas fifty years ago, more than one in two (55%) thought so. Could it be the fault of agrochemicals, modern weapons, surveillance technologies? Conversely, pseudo-sciences have experienced incredible growth as social networks have developed. 59% believe in at least one superstition of an occult nature, against 21% for the oldest.
So is it serious doctor? For the Jean Jaurès Foundation, it is certain, there is a point of vigilance here. There are now strong minorities, more than one in five, who adhere to alternative pseudo-truths. So, let’s skip over the most eccentric theories like “the Earth is flat” or the thesis that the pyramids of Egypt are the work of extraterrestrials. The strongest support goes to subjects that are at the heart of our reality today. It’s the idea of natural global warming or the toxicity of Messenger RNA vaccines for children. As if what aroused the most anti-scientific belief was precisely what imposed a change on us in our daily lives.
Social networks, a role that is not insignificant?
The two foundations then rightly raise the question of social networks. She is not neutral. The conspiratorial idea that Americans have never been to the Moon is progressing, for example, because the platforms and in particular TikTok do not play the same role at all as the reference media, which often reflect a certain scientific consensus. . On the networks, we unravel an authorized truth, accepted by all, to offer another that we will endeavor to share within a bubble of friends.
The survey is therefore right to worry about the fact that, for example, a quarter of young people believe that abortion can be done with plant-based products. But at the same time, one can regret that it mixes very different notions. One can for example believe in God without being a creationist, therefore while adhering to the theory of the evolution of species. Either believe in astrology or even in the evil eye while giving science its full place. In fact, young people are mostly in the making. What worries, therefore, is less that they associate themselves with something scientifically false than the fact that he holds it permanently to be true.