Hi everyone! Welcome to my fifth and final blog post for my research. If you have not read any of my other posts, I am doing an inquiry project with the question “Has instant access to information made society less informed?” In this post, I am going to be doing my third round of research.
Informed vs exposed
People are exposed to more content than ever before. We see this with the news, social media and just the internet in general. There are positives and negatives about this that we have talked about in the earlier posts, but one thing we need to make clear is that can not confuse exposure to information as learning. (1)
In a recent study, it talked about how quickly people make opinions on certain subjects after watching about 5 videos. I will not explain the whole study they did because it is quite long, but in the end the study shows that early exposure to new or incorrect information may be one of the most powerful forces shaping people’s opinions. (2) This study shows that people may not be getting as educated on the internets they thought they did, and shows that if you are going have access to have access to information like this you should do actual research before stating opinions or jumping to conclusion. Its basically saying we see more, but don’t necessarily learn more.
To kind of add to this, majority of people forget the information they see when scrolling online. Another study was done where two brights 17-year-olds were told to just scroll on social media. They scrolled for about 6 hours, and when asked about their favorite memory from scrolling they couldn’t remember. (3) This study shows that people can’t even remember majority of what they see inline. So, if I come back to the first study we talked about, how can people make opinions after watching roughly 5 videos if they can’t even remember the content they see online.
These studies really show how people are just being exposed and not informed, but that does not mean its just all exposed. We still have pros for fast access to information online. If people do actual research by reading actual confirmed sourced articles and watching proper videos instead of scrolling for hours looking at potential misinformation’s content, then there is actual informant taking place.
Sources:
Green, Robin. “You’d Be Hard-Pressed to Find a Business That Doesn’t Embrace the Idea That “Developing Their People” Is Key Priority. We All Know That People Are Our Most Important Asset – Heck, You Can Find Posters on the Wall of Many Companies That Amplify That Thought.” Linkedin.com, 24 June 2017, www.linkedin.com/pulse/exposure-does-equal-learning-robin-green. Accessed 29 May 2026. (1)
BAUM, CORINNE. “Study Finds Five Social Media Posts May Shape Lasting Opinions.” The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com, The Jerusalem Post, 27 May 2026, www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/mind-and-spirit/article-897515. Accessed 29 May 2026. (2)
Shribman, Matthew J. “How Much Do You Remember from Your Last Social Media Scroll?” Medium, 5 Mar. 2023, matthew-shribman.medium.com/how-much-do-you-remember-from-your-last-social-media-scroll-f7be9cfe0dcc. (3)
Hi Ciara,
I have to say that I found your blog post really fascinating. Your topic has been something that is starting to be discussed, and I like how you did not go straight to arguing that the internet is a bad place. For your presentation, I suggest you definitely mention the articles that you used to back up your point in this blog post. They certainly made me nod my head while reading, especially the study where they had two bright students scroll for six hours. I think what you researched is important to share, not because people don’t know about the issue but because people know and have been trying to avoid the truth.
Hi Ciara!
I liked your post, I totally see what you mean about people being more exposed to information making people less informed. I feel like that sometimes when i see new informaiton on tiktok and even though I hear more about events I dont feel like i really know whats really happening. For the future I think it would be really interesting if you talked about how to prevent this and where you can get reputebal information that you will remeber. Good job! :p
Hi Ciara! I have enjoyed reading your blog posts on this subject. I liked how you talked about the amount of content we consume using social media and I found the study you used very informative. Something you could talk about during your presentation is how we can become more informed. Some sources that could be useful for this topic is “https://www.biola.edu/blogs/good-book-blog/2013/why-you-should-be-informed-with-8-tips-to-become-informed” and “https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2022/01/02/how-to-stay-informed-without-getting-overwhelmed/”. I hope to hear more from you and good luck on your presentation! – Lina
Hi Ciara!
I really enjoyed reading your post and found it interesting how you distinguished between being exposed to information and actually being informed. Your discussion of the studies showed how easy it is for people to form opinions based on limited content while not necessarily retaining much of what they see online. I thought your point about social media exposing people to information without encouraging deeper learning was especially insightful. One question I have is if you think the problem is the amount of information available online, or the way social media platforms present and prioritize that information to users? Here are two sources to help with your research!
https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2025/11/social-media-tool-polarization-user-control-research
https://www.techpolicy.press/algorithms-shift-polarization-why-does-policy-still-miss-the-real-problem/
Hi Clara! Your take on this topic was really eye opening. I really liked how your blog post explained the difference between being exposed to information and actually being informed. The examples about people forming opinions after only a few videos and forgetting most of what they see online were interesting and helped support your argument. One thing you could add is more discussion about why people are so quick to trust information they see online or how algorithms influence the content people are exposed to. Overall, your post was easy to follow and did a great job answering your inquiry question from a different perspective. Good luck with your final presentation!!
Here’s a link that might be useful if you want to look more in depth to my suggestion!! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352250X23002154
Hello Ciara, I really liked your explanation between “being exposed to information” and actually being informed, because it clearly explains a problem a lot of people experience online today. Your example about how quickly people form opinions after seeing only a small amount of content was really effective in showing how easily misinformation or incomplete understanding can spread. I also found your point about memory really interesting, since it connects attention and retention to how much we actually learn from social media. Do you think certain platforms make it harder or easier for people to become truly informed? Overall, I liked your image choice, attention to detail and thought all around your post was very well written!