The Impact of Digital Literacy on Digital Trust During Covid-19 Pandemic and the Effect of Information Sources on Trust

Abstract

Aarushi Pradhan and Akshit Singh

The world is becoming digitized at a rampant speed. The emergence of digital technologies have made it possible for people around the world to connect easily with each other. Digital platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp, and other social media sites have become deeply embedded in the daily lives of millions of people around the world. This is increasingly shaping how people engage with their connections as citizens of a particular country as well as consumers of that platform [1]. However, the potential uses of user data benefit such companies in ways that may not be visible to users. Recently, digital literacy is becoming increasingly important to understand and control one’s personal data. Information on social media platforms spreads rapidly through family, friends or other people that we trust. Over centuries several varieties of information sources have come up. Information sources are now available both in tangible and intangible forms [2]. This difficulty in distinguishing between reliable and unreliable sources causes the spreading of confusion and anxiety in the population [3]. Trust plays a crucial role in our lives. It is a very complicated phenomena attached to multiple disciplines and influenced by many measurable and non-measurable factors [4]. COVID-19 pandemic was a new global problem that engulfed the entire world and affected all aspects of society. The threat of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus caused fear and uncertainty throughout the population and it had a major influence on public behaviour [5]. Thus, the information on vaccines acquired through different media platforms instilled a new kind of uncertainty within the people. This paper talks about the affect of digital literacy on people’s trust regarding the information spread on Covid-19 vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in the US, the UK and India. The paper also includes the role of information source hierarchies on people trusting the information.

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