Some have suggested that older adults engage with more fake news due to decreased episodic memory and abstract reasoning as well as source memory deficits.
However, older adults also have some strengths that may make them resistant to the illusory truth effect and better at differentiating real and fake news headlines.

The Cognitive Decline Theory for Increased Engagement with Fake News Later in Life

Older adults tend to have greater interpersonal trust and smaller social groups on average. These factors may put them at greater risk to overestimate the trustworthiness of a source.

The Social Change Theory for Increased Engagement with Fake News Later in Life

Older adults tend to be less familiar with online spaces which may make them more susceptible to clickbait and internet hoaxes and make it more difficult for them to recognize manipulated images or sponsored content.

Digital Illiteracy Theory for Increased Engagement with Fake News Later in Life

- Cognitive declines
- Social changes
- Digital illiteracy

Pepperdine University

Advanced age greatly predicts a higher likelihood to engage with fake news. Older adults tend to be exposed to more fake news sites and share more inaccurate information on social media.

Old Age and Engagement with Fake News

Brashier, N. M., & Schacter, D. L. (2020). Aging in an Era of Fake News. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29(3), 316–323. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721420915872

Aging in an Era of Fake News

Theories for Why Older Adults Engage with More Fake News

Older adults tend to see more information from fake news sites in their Twitter feed than younger adults do.

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