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Key misinformation “superspreaders” on Twitter: Older women (arstechnica.com)

submitted 5 months ago by Xatolos@reddthat.com to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] Drusas@kbin.run 17 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I'm going to guess a big part of the reason that older women spread misinformation more than older men do is that women are more chronically online at that age as opposed to trying to be active and out of the house, and/or less likely to be employed and therefore have a lot of time on their hands with no kids to take care of now that they're all grown up.

[–] livus@kbin.social 23 points 5 months ago

I think you're right - women are also socialized to seek out social/interpersonal connections more than men; this is a big factor in why the suicide rate for elderly men tends to be significantly higher than for elderly women.

This doesn't explain the 60 year olds but with the elderly (70+) women in my life, the vulnerability to misinformation is also an artifact of their comparatively poor levels of education. They were schooled with the expectation that they would be SAHMs.