Youth Rely on Digital Platforms, Need Media Literacy to Access Political Information

Posted by Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement on June 17, 2025

As young people increasingly get political information on social media, they need media literacy skills to help navigate what they read—and vote.

The current generation of young Americans has come of age at a time of monumental changes in how we acquire and consume information. The rise of social media and digital platforms has opened up new avenues for political information but also fractured the media landscape and supercharged concerns about misinformation. Given these shifts and challenges, the question of how and where to reach youth with the information they need to vote and participate in civic life has become a major concern.

During and after the 2024 election, there has been a lot of conversation about the role of digital platforms, podcasts, influencers, and other less traditional sources of information about voting and political issues. This new analysis, based on CIRCLE’s exclusive poll of youth (ages 18-34) conducted immediately after the 2024 election, confirms the major role that social media and digital platforms now play in young people’s political information diet. But our findings also add nuance to narratives about young people’s media consumption, and they challenge some increasingly common ideas about how to reach and engage young people.

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