Media literacy in the Norwegian population 2024

The survey covers a wide range of topics that together shed light on the population’s experiences with and competence in understanding and navigating the key aspects of today’s complex media landscape. This includes media use, familiarity with and attitudes towards different types of media, experiences with and knowledge about misinformation and disinformation, online harassment, and screen use. 

Based on the findings, the following challenges have been identified:

Digital resilience against misinformation and disinformation: Widespread experience with false information online, especially on social media, challenges in identifying artificially created content, and a perception that it is difficult to assesswhat is true and false, point to a need to strengthen the population's digital resilience. Important aspects in this context also include that a large portion of the respondents are concerned about the societal effects of misinformation and disinformation, while technological developments make it increasingly easier to produce and spread, and harder to detect, this type of content.

Knowledge of and access to editor-controlled journalistic media: With the rise of misinformation and disinformation, the importance of quality-assured information from reliable sources increases. The survey indicates a possible link between the use of, payment for, and familiarity with editor–controlled journalistic media and trust in them. Furthermore, there is consistently a larger proportion that has a positive attitude towards the societal role of editor–controlled journalistic media, compared to the proportion that has a positive view of social media. However, there is a relatively large segment that answers ‘neither/nor’ to questions about the significance of editor-controlled journalistic media. This may indicate that many do not have strong attitudes towards the editor-controlled journalistic media and their role in society. A challenge, therefore, is to increase knowledge in the population about editor-controlled journalistic media, and how this type of media differs from other sources of information, such as sources on social media that that are not editor–controlled. It is also important that everyone has access to editor–controlled journalistic media, regardless of whether they can afford to pay or not.

Safe climate of expression: Among those who have been subjected to what they perceive as harassing or derogatory comments online in the last six months, the proportion is somewhat larger among the youngest respondents and among those who use social media the most. For some who have received such comments, it has consequences, such as causing them to become more cautious with – or cease to participate in – online debates. This seems to apply more to women than men. It is important to have a climate of expression that does not create barriers to participating in public debate. Different views on – and acceptance of – various statements can also pose challenges.

Regulation of screen use: Two out of three believe that they have too much screen-time, and a relatively large portion, especially among the youngest, consider that social media has negative consequences for their sleep and their self–esteem. These figures highlight the importance of regulating screen use. On this point, it is important to discuss both regulations at the societal level (for example, screen use in schools) and self–regulation.

Competence gap between the younger and the older: Age matters both for the respondents’ self–perceived competence in grasping various actions online, and for their actual competence, according to the survey. It is important to see how this competence gap between the younger and the older can be bridged, and to work on how older age groups can be reached with educational measures that increase their digital user competence.

Sufficient critical approach among the young: The survey shows that theyoungest have a more positive attitude than the oldest towards the societal role ofsocial media. Furthermore, the younger are less concerned than the older thatartificial intelligence services make it harder to distinguish true from false, and that thespread of false information affects the trust people have in the authorities. At thesame time, a significantly higher proportion of the younger than the older report thatthey find it easy to assess whether information they see online is true or false.Knowing that young people obtain information and news largely from social media, itis very important that they have a sufficiently critical approach to the content they areexposed to. If this is not present, while the belief in their own competence is great, itcan overall contribute to vulnerability in the youngest age groups.