According to this study, young French people are becoming increasingly stupid

News JVTech According to this study, young French people are becoming increasingly stupid

Flat earth, witchcraft, astrology, increasingly affecting young people

Hi ! Are you between 11 and 24 years old and do you consider yourself an intelligent person? Think again, because Ifop is here to bring you bad news: there’s a good chance you’re quite the opposite. Seriously, the Reboot Foundation and the Jean-Jaurès Foundation commissioned a study from Ifop assess the presence of fringe theories in the minds of young people today.

It was released in early 2023 and performed with a sample of 2023 people, including 1,061 youth aged 11 to 17 and 942 young people between the ages of 18 and 24, all this while respecting quotas for gender, school education and diploma, socio-professional category and geography.

The alternative truths

The study shows with some evidence that young French people are increasingly skeptical about scientific achievements, starting with the difference in the perception of the usefulness of science in 2022 compared to 1972: only 33% of those polled find it more good than bad, compared with 55% in 1972. 17% say it does more harm than good, compared to 6% then.

Attention : While the survey is conducted with a sample of 11-24 year olds, many statistics relate only to 18-24 year olds. Strange. One of the most interesting questions for this age group is:

“And for each of the following opinions, do you agree with at least one of these statements?”with timeless topics such as the theory of evolution and the trip to the moon in the USA, or newer topics such as the war in Ukraine or the many myths surrounding the Covid. Result: 69% of 18 to 24 year olds agree with at least one of these statements. It’s enormous.

Parasciences and Occultism

When you feel like you’re hearing more and more astrology You don’t dream around yourself. 49% of young people believe that astrology is a science, compared to 43% in 1999. However, it is far from the only para-science that has a good back:

Blame the social networks TikTok and Twitter at the top of the list

I guess everyone is surprised when I tell you this Social networks have an obvious influence to the results of this investigation. Among 11-24 year olds, 69% have consulted video or photo sharing networks, compared to 23% for major TV networks.

• 33% of young people Have confidence in social networks (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat etc.)
• 41% of TikTokers believe in the idea thatA content creator/influencer who has a significant number of followers is usually a reliable source. It’s that last statistic that’s the scariest.

Twitter also stands out In several responses, teens who use it multiple times a day are more likely to adhere to dubious theories.

The Ifop survey is very complete, I invite you to consult it in full to understand all the details.

(Ifop study for the Rebbot Foundation and the Jean Jaurès Foundation, carried out by means of self-administered online questionnaire from October 28th to November 7th, 2022 with a representative national sample of 2,003 young people, representative of the French population aged 11 to 24 years.)

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