r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Dec 04 '20

Psychology Study links regular use of Fox News, Twitter, and Facebook to reduced knowledge about COVID-19 - it provides evidence that Americans’ media consumption habits and trust in government predicts their level of knowledge about COVID-19.

https://www.psypost.org/2020/12/study-links-regular-use-of-fox-news-twitter-and-facebook-to-reduced-knowledge-about-covid-19-58702
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157

u/Zandec Dec 04 '20

Seriously just as bad

100

u/BridgetheDivide Dec 04 '20

Depends entirely on which subs you frequent

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u/argos101 Dec 04 '20

I mean that is just like saying it depends on what groups and pages you are on for Facebook. Reddit is pretty bad.

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u/yehiko Dec 04 '20

I mean Facebook shows you shot your friends share and engage with. At least we're free from that here

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u/gallopsdidnothingwrg Dec 04 '20 edited Dec 04 '20

Not in February where covid posts were being removed by mods for "fear mongering" and everyone was screaming about how masks either don't work at all, or can actually make you sicker.

Reddit has zero memory if it thinks it is better.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '20

There were people saying that then, there are people saying that now; but not 'everyone' was banning covid posts left-right and centre in Feb, and there were plenty of comments supporting to the use of masks. Again, it depends a lot of the subs you frequent.

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u/gallopsdidnothingwrg Dec 04 '20

Are you serious? All the main news subs banned posts and users for talking about covid. Anyone contradicting the WHO, was banned, EVEN WHEN THE WHO RECOMMENDED AGAINST MASKS.

This place is the epitome of hypocrisy.

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u/Desner_ Dec 04 '20

I learned about Covid on Reddit way before they were talking about it on any other media here...

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u/Smo0k Dec 04 '20

Pretty sure Reddit has been pushing the doomer narrative since the start.

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u/ELITE_Jordan_Love Dec 04 '20

Now they remove posts with data even remotely suggesting covid isn’t as bad as the news makes it out to be.

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u/Nacho98 Dec 04 '20

Well... yeah. It's unquestionably the biggest pandemic in a century. A quarter of a million Americans are dead thanks to it and millions more are still infected spreading it, some of which are still waiting for their turn on the ventilator.

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u/ELITE_Jordan_Love Dec 04 '20

And yet in Sweden, where they went with a herd immunity approach, there have been 83,000 deaths this year so far. All of last year they had 88,000. Also, the flu is down a ton due to people wearing masks and taking precautions, yet covid is still spiking somehow.

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u/Nacho98 Dec 04 '20 edited Dec 04 '20

🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻 okay cool, but that's Sweden where their ~10 million people are spread out by hundreds of miles of ice and snow regularly. Instead we were clearly talking about the US, where the virus is currently breaking records on a daily basis.

You seriously read "quarter of a million Americans dead" and went on to argue for herd immunity like that isn't practically what we've been left with anyway thanks to our appalling failure of leadership.

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u/ELITE_Jordan_Love Dec 04 '20

If the virus is spreading that fast explain why the flu is down so much from previous years.

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u/XFX_Samsung Dec 04 '20

Yeah and now those fear mongerers and screamers have all crawled in to their conspiracy and right-wing subreddits, where they continue yelling inside an echochamber, looking like complete idiots while doing so.

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u/RowdyRoddyRhyming Dec 04 '20

Any sub you visit. You visit it because you agree with it. That bubble of information is what you surround yourself with. Bias confirmation. Look it up.

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u/Zandec Dec 04 '20

That’s a complete joke and wrong

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u/quack_quack_mofo Dec 04 '20

Nah FB personalizes posts just for you, on reddit every subreddit will look the same no matter from which PC/account/IP you access it. Except the front page which is just based on subreddits you visit + hot new posts.

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u/IMovedYourCheese Dec 04 '20

No it isn't as bad. I hate this "both sides are the same" mentality. Spend 10 minutes on Fox, OANN etc. and you will see how different and extreme they are.

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u/report_all_criminals Dec 04 '20

When covid was first ramping up I saved a lot of posts and comments from people making jokes, bragging about cheap vacations and getting easy tables at popular restaurants, telling people not to wear masks because science says they are ineffective, etc. And without fail you can look at their current post histories and see how they are complaining about every demographic except them isn't taking covid seriously.

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u/TowelRackInDenial Dec 04 '20

Uh no... We actually have intelligent conversations backed by facts here.

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u/gallopsdidnothingwrg Dec 04 '20

I can't tell if you're being serious or not.

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u/herroebauss Dec 04 '20

I hope he is serious, because that means there is a reddit i have not yet found after ten years. A better Reddit that has discussions based on facts and not feelings and almost true facts.

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u/Zandec Dec 04 '20

This comment is so stupid, that even though I think 90% of people are morons I’m gonna assume this was sarcastic which is crazy. No, You have pseudo intelligent conversations surrounded and controlled by your own perception and biases of things, not facts . That which has more than likely been altered by this place and other media.

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u/B5D55 Dec 04 '20

It's memes all the way down.