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Social (media) psychology of the “news-finds-me” perception: habits, mindsets, and beliefs

Scott W. Campbell & Ian Hawkins

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication2025https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmaf010article
AJG 3
Weight
0.37

What the paper says

Unintended encounters with news on social media can foster a reliance on incidental news exposure and the perception that “news finds me.” Because the “news-finds-me” (NFM) perception has negative consequences for informed and engaged citizenship, explaining it has become a priority in recent years. This two-wave survey of adults in the USA incorporates scholarship on social media habits and social media mindsets for an expanded view of the antecedent psychological conditions of the “news-finds-me” perception. Path analyses indicate habitual use of social media to have direct effects and core beliefs about social media and algorithmic control to have indirect effects through habitual use. These patterns hold for two of the three sub-dimensions of the NFM perception, indicating habit and mindset to be fruitful theoretical directions for future research.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmaf010

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@article{scott2025,
  title        = {{Social (media) psychology of the “news-finds-me” perception: habits, mindsets, and beliefs}},
  author       = {Scott W. Campbell & Ian Hawkins},
  journal      = {Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmaf010},
}

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Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.