Community Services Webinar 1: “Assisting Gen Z to Navigate through Misleading Information about Pandemic in Social Media”

On Friday, 8 May 2020, LSPR Centre for Research, Publication and Community Services held its first webinar series with main theme “Assisting Gen Z to Navigate through Misleading Information about Pandemic in Social Media” with Dr. Susilowati Natakoesoemah, Ms. Elke Alexandrina and moderated by Ms. Grace Wattimena. This topic was brought about by the fact that so much misleading information around social media was accessed by Gen Z. This talk is open to the public and attended by various people from another campus or community.

During this talk, both Dr. Susi and Ms. Elke explained the characteristics of Gen Z, which is very individualistic and being the only generation who suffered the social distancing. Quoted from the American Psychology Association, Gen Z is the generation with the most mental health issue. Back to the current pandemic, Gen Z collected information regarding COVID-19, mostly from social media instead of the news. They barely filter the information they have got since they are also the only generation with the highest multi-tasking skill. Ms. Elke also mentioned how Gen Z works, which uses audio, visual, also kinaesthetic. Starting point with Gen Z during this pandemic is to use their interconnected-ness. They seem very connected to each other so it would be easier for them to spread the accurate information about COVID-19 to flatten the curve. Besides that, their skill in technology and social media is very good. They tend to agree or believe with credible sources than their own parents, so they just really need good digital literacy to maximize their potential.