With the reported persistent "functional illiteracy" among Filipinos - the inability to comprehend, analyze and digest the information they read online - experts have raised concerns over netizens' vulnerability to fake news and disinformation.
This, as the results of the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) showed that "digital media" is now the chief source of news and information among Filipinos.
During the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Calabarzon's Regional Data Dissemination on the results of the 2024 FLEMMS held in Calamba City, Laguna this Monday, June 2, officials underscored the high exposure rate among Calabarzon residents to digital media compared to five years ago.
For instance, the exposure rate of the average netizens to online and digital newspapers - which were almost non-existent in 2019 - is now at 55.7 percent five years later.
Meanwhile, print materials such as physical newspapers and magazines showed a sharp drop in exposure rates - from 68.3 percent in 2019 to just over 26.8 percent in 2024 for physical newspapers, and from 76.4 percent in 2019 to 51.4 percent in 2024 for magazines.
Video content such as streaming platforms and reels have also come to dominate the media landscape, according to PSA IV-A Statistical Specialist Jan Irvin Mark Sison.
Calabarzon residents' exposure to video streaming shot up from zero to 76 percent in just five years, while television and radio exposure declined during the past five years.
From 98 percent in 2019, exposure to mainstream television dropped to 85.2 percent in 2024, while exposure to radio also dropped from 72.6 percent in 2019 to 46.2 percent in 2024.
Internet use
Sison also underscored how social media has dominated the everyday lives of Calabarzon residents, as he noted that the use of social media platforms rose from 83.2 percent in 2019 to 86 percent in 2024.
Due to the changes in lifestyle following the Covid-19 pandemic and a gradual acceptance of a "digitalized" society, the use of e-commerce and government service platforms also rose to 58 percent and 48.4 percent in 2024, respectively.
Smartphones also dominate the devices used by the average Calabarzon netizen, with 91.9 percent of residents using cellular phones to access the Internet in 2024.
Meanwhile, the use of personal computers declined from 33.6 percent in 2019 to 33.2 percent in 2024, while the use of landline telephones also declined from 14.1 percent in 2019 to 12.5 percent five years later.
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