Young Adults' Interaction with News, Advertising, and Data Privacy Concerns: Insights from a Spanish Study

Abstract

This research aims to characterize how young adults interact with the news, to what extent their consumption is conditioned by the presence of advertising and if they worry about the transfer of personal data. For this, the “Digital News Report Spain 2018” is taken as a starting point, a report prepared from a questionnaire on the consumption of digital media to a national panel of 2,023 Internet users; Of these, 293 are young people between the ages of 25-34, who belong to the "millennial" generation. These data were completed with a qualitative study, carrying out two discussion groups with people of that age group residing in Navarre. Among the conclusions of the research, it is pointed out that young adults are interested in news, which they access primarily through mobile devices. This interest is greater when the content affects them directly or if they empathize with the topic of the news. On the other hand, the family environment and social routines condition their way of getting information. They continue to access traditional media, although they consider them to be ideologized. They perceive advertising as annoying, although there is no knowledge or widespread use of blockers. Finally, they negatively value the current personalization services, although they give up some personal data to the media if it makes it easier for them to access the information.