Social and demographic differences in news habits and attitudes.

in informative •  7 years ago 

Young people are active news consumers, with particular attentiveness to breaking news

The survey data provide a broad challenge to the notion that younger adults in the digital age are uninterested or are turning away from news about the world. Across a range of metrics—frequency, enjoyment, variety of topic interests, and more—younger adults are high news consumers. But there are some important differences by age.


While younger people may be slightly less attentive to news on a daily basis, they are more attentive to breaking news.


Americans age 60 and over are somewhat more likely than the youngest adults, age 18-29, to say they enjoy keeping up with the news, although significant majorities of both groups do so (93 percent for those age 60 plus vs. 83 percent for those age 18-29). It follows then, that older Americans watch, read, or hear the news more often than the youngest cohort. Adults age 18-29 (59 percent) are significantly less likely than adults age 30-39 (75 percent), 40-59 (77 percent), and 60 and older (89 percent) to say they consume news at least once a day. But again, for majorities across all age groups, news consumption is a daily habit.

Older adults are also more likely to report reading, watching, or hearing a news story in-depth in the last week. Fully 54 percent of adults age 60 and over said they’d done so compared to just 1 in 4 young people 18-29, a third of adults 30-39, and 43 percent of those 40-59.

But while younger people may be slightly less attentive to news on a daily basis, they are more attentive to breaking news. Indeed, the youngest adults are more than twice as likely (55 percent) to follow up in-depth on breaking news as they are to report going in-depth in the last week on any news story (25 percent). Adults age 60 and over are less likely to report going in-depth on breaking news than on news generally.

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