Do multi-channel use and online engagement matter for critical literacy and information verification behaviors? Comprehensive comparisons of six generations from before 1954 (war generation) to generation Z (after 1997)

The prevalence of multi-channel information consumption, which involves the simultaneous engagement with multiple information sources across various platforms, underscores the urgent need for research on its effects as it profoundly influences how individuals seek, evaluate, and interact with information, ultimately shaping their information-related choices and behaviors. Using an innovative empirical method to extract a set of latent groups based on individuals' multi-channel practices, the study examined the role of channel plurality relative to how people evaluate and consume information online. Importantly, this research examined how conditions of the critical literacy and practices can be configured to benefit six distinct generational groups, ranging from the youngest generation group (1990s) to the oldest generation (1950s). Based on results of a nationally representative survey (N = 10,032), the current research demonstrated how individuals’ channel plurality contributes to their critical literacy and information verification behaviors. Finally, this study identified differences in information practices manifested in six generational groups. In the end, this study bridged two streams of research, new media literacy and the digital divide, and discussed how different educational and regulatory approaches can be made to encourage critical information consumption in an increasingly digitized network environment.