LANGUAGE, MASS MEDIA, AND SOCIETY IN THE DIGITAL AGE: AN ANALYSIS OF LINGUISTIC CHANGE, MEDIA INFLUENCE, AND MISINFORMATION SUSCEPTIBILITY
Abstract
This article examines how digital media reshapes language, public opinion, and susceptibility to misinformation. Drawing on language and communication theories (including the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, speech act theory, and critical discourse analysis) alongside media theories (agenda-setting, framing, cultivation, gatekeeping, and network society theory) and sociological perspectives (the public sphere, social construction of reality, and media hegemony), the study builds an integrated framework linking linguistic change, media influence, and misinformation vulnerability. Drawing on a cross-sectional survey of 420 adult social media users, the study measured six constructs empirically: media literacy, perceived language change, perceived media influence, media trust, misinformation exposure, and misinformation susceptibility. Correlational and regression analyses showed that media literacy was the strongest protective factor against misinformation susceptibility, while misinformation exposure and daily social media use were significant risk factors, together with the exposure–literacy–trust model explaining roughly 57% of the variance in susceptibility. An analysis of variance further showed that perceived language change was highest among 18–34-year-olds and lowest among 35–44-year-olds, supporting theoretical expectations that younger, digitally immersed users perceive greater linguistic change. The findings underscore the protective role of media literacy, the risks posed by high-frequency, high-exposure media use, and the generational, though not exclusive, concentration of perceived linguistic change. The article concludes with recommendations spanning media literacy education, platform design, fact-checking support, digital-access policy, and linguistically responsive pedagogy.
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