Delphine Schiltz, edited by Juliette Moreau Alvarez 9:00 p.m., January 12, 2023
One in six young people think the Earth can be flat.
This is one of the rather worrying results of an Ifop poll.
In question, social networks which completely change the way of getting information for 18-24 year olds.
Today, only one in three young people think that science does more good than harm for humanity.
Worrying results.
An Ifop poll for the Reboot Foundation and the Jean-Jaurès Foundation shows that 18-24 year olds have less and less confidence in science.
Only one in three young people believe that science does more good than harm for humanity.
50 years ago, they were still 55%.
Another lesson is that young people adhere more easily than before to alternative truths.
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One in six young people think it is possible that the Earth is flat.
One in five believe aliens built the pyramids in Egypt.
Statistics which, at the time of the supremacy of social networks, can be alarming.
Some even question the theory of evolution.
In the class of Jérémie, SVT teacher in the Dordogne, the speeches of his students during his class hours confirm this survey.
"They relayed creationist discourses that it was God who created the Earth and the animals and that Darwin's discoveries were not to be taught because they were in contradiction to religious texts."
In question, social networks
It is the way in which 18-24 year olds obtain information that is called into question.
"Because of social networks today, young people are much more exposed to a whole set of scientific counter-discourses", explains François Kraus, co-author of the Ifop study.
"They are definitely more steeped in conspiracy theories."
Last edifying fact, nearly one in two young people trust information when it is produced by an influencer who has a lot of subscribers.