Emerging Adulthood and Brazilian College Students' Experiences with Misinformation in Social Media

ABSTRACT This paper considers emerging adulthood (EA) as a theoretical lens for understanding how Brazilian college students manage misinformation on social media. Data were collected through focus groups with 25 undergraduate library and information science majors at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in the weeks surrounding Brazil's 2022 presidential election, a period marked by intensified misinformation online. Data analysis connects five key developmental factors of EA to the participants' everyday information practices and shows that political tension and family conflict were linked to experiences with misinformation. It also shows that these students are not passive consumers of information and misinformation but active navigators of the digital information landscape, with some playing the role of information evaluation experts for family and others, especially in WhatsApp personal messaging and on social media. The authors conclude that efforts to combat misinformation must consider emerging adults' developmental, social, and emotional dimensions, alongside technical and educational interventions.