Communication researchers from FHWien der WKW presented their study on media use among 18- to 30-year-olds at the annual conference of the German Society for Journalism and Communication Studies in Münster.
Young people in particular often use social media as a source of news. However, social media is not an equivalent substitute for traditional news media, e.g., for knowledge about political issues. At the same time, young people have a broader view of what journalism is than older people.
In this context, Gisela Reiter, Andreas Hess, and Marian Adolf from the Department of Communication at FHWien der WKW conducted 48 guided personal interviews with people aged 18 to 30 from all educational backgrounds. The prerequisite was that they did not work in the communications industry. They presented the results of their study on media use at the Media Sociology Conference (DGPuK) at the University of Münster in early November 2025:
- Respondents navigate highly personalized information worlds that are controlled by algorithms and individual and social affiliations.
- Algorithms are perceived as helpful by respondents, even though they are aware of the limited diversity of topics and critical perspectives such as manipulation and loss of credibility.
- News avoidance—the deliberate avoidance of news—is evident among respondents as a conscious strategy to relieve emotional stress and escape the glut of negative or distressing news.
The subsequent expert discussion addressed topics such as the intrinsic desire to be informed and the danger of “unlearning” news consumption. The consequence of a decline in common topics of conversation due to fragmented information worlds is alarming. Marian Adolf refers to the social impact of media development:
“The new diversity of content, forms, and actors offers a wealth of original (and less original) content, but is increasingly failing to bring people together.”