Re-sharing on Social Media Could Be Making You More Stupid

Re-posting messages on social media makes people stupid, a new study suggests.

Researchers from Cornell and Beijing universities found that the simple act of “re-tweeting” interfered with people’s understanding of the contents of the message.

Professor Qi Wang, a human development expert at Cornell in the US, said: “Most people don't post original ideas any more. You just share what you read with your friends.

“But they don't realize that sharing has a downside. It may interfere with other things we do.”

Two groups of Chinese students were shown a series of messages on Weibo, a Twitter-like social media platform in China.

One group was then given the choice whether to re-post the message or move on to the next one. The other group were not able to re-tweet.

The students were then tested about the contents of the messages.

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