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Between classes, workouts at the Aztec Recreation Center and late-night study sessions, many SDSU students stay updated on the world through a quick scroll on their phones. But while students constantly encounter news, that does not necessarily mean they understand the issues affecting their lives.<\/p>\n
Across campus, students describe a similar pattern: News appears in their feeds constantly, but deeper engagement often stops at the headline. Some students avoid the news altogether, while others feel overwhelmed by how much information they encounter daily.<\/p>\n
Nathian Rodriguez, Ph.D., a journalism and media studies professor at SDSU, said social media has fundamentally changed how students consume news.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents primarily rely on social media for their news,\u201d Rodriguez said, noting that many of the sources students encounter are not always professional or vetted.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a lot of them, it\u2019s the main \u2014 and sometimes the only \u2014 source they go to,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez added that social media platforms prioritize short, attention-grabbing content that competes with entertainment, making it less likely for users to engage with in-depth reporting.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes people see the headline, and that makes them aware, but they may not read it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez said there is a clear difference between being aware of an issue and actually understanding it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re aware of what is happening, but I\u2019m not too sure I would say they\u2019re informed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that being informed requires more than exposure \u2014 it involves understanding the context and factual details behind a story.<\/p>\n
For many students, news consumption is largely passive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like social media is where I get most of my news, like TikTok and Instagram,\u201d student Valerie Cole said. \u201cIt\u2019s usually just when it pops up on my feed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cole said that whether she engages with a story often depends on how interesting it appears at first glance.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I scroll past,\u201d she said. \u201cIt depends on the headline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Researchers in psychology and information science define information overload<\/a> as a state in which the amount of information exceeds an individual\u2019s cognitive processing capacity, making it difficult to fully understand or evaluate what they are seeing.<\/p>\n That sense of overload is reflected across campus. Some students said the constant stream of information discourages them from engaging deeply \u2014 or at all.<\/p>\n \u201cI kinda just see things. I don\u2019t normally look,\u201d said first-year student Kate Berwick.<\/p>\n Berwick added that while she encounters news most days, she often scrolls past it without reading.<\/p>\n Others said they feel only partially informed despite frequent exposure.<\/p>\n Even students who occasionally seek information acknowledge gaps in their understanding.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely could be more informed,\u201d said third-year Dylan Vaniat.<\/p>\n Vaniat said he sometimes looks up topics after hearing about them from others, but does not consistently engage with news on his own.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes I don\u2019t have the energy to give it the attention I think it deserves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n This contrast highlights a growing divide on campus: students are not all engaging with news in the same way, even if they are exposed to it at similar levels.<\/p>\n Despite these differences, students largely agreed on one point: Scrolling is not the same as understanding.<\/p>\n A report from the Pew Research Center<\/a> found that many users encounter news incidentally on social media and often engage only briefly rather than seeking out full articles or deeper context.<\/p>\n Scholars in psychology and media studies refer to this behavior as doomscrolling<\/a>, the repeated consumption of negative information through social media feeds\u2014a habit that research has linked to increased psychological distress. A study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health<\/a> found that frequent doomscrolling is associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression and lower overall well-being among heavy social media users<\/p>\n Rodriguez said doomscrolling often occurs when users try to learn more about a topic but remain within social media feeds instead of turning to full articles or verified sources.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very easy to go from one video to another,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s different from stopping and actually reading a full article.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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