Findings in this survey highlight that publics generally see both benefits and harms emerging from mobile phones, the internet and social media in their societies. In many cases, the more a person sees benefits \u2013 such as technology making people more informed \u2013 the more they are also likely to see negatives, such as connectivity making people easier to manipulate.<\/p>\n\n
Pew Research Center has found a similar pattern in domestic surveys<\/a>. For example, while 56% of Americans say social media make it easier to hold powerful people accountable, roughly seven-in-ten (71%) say that these platforms may make people think they\u2019re making a difference when they really aren\u2019t. Similarly, around two-thirds of Americans say social media can help highlight important issues that may not otherwise get a lot of attention, even as around three-quarters say they also run the risk of distracting people from issues that are truly important. In election contexts<\/a>, Americans have said they believe the internet makes it easier to meet others with similar political views but also increases political extremism.<\/p>\n\n Some of these tensions may reflect that people generally see digital technologies as more beneficial for themselves than for society at large<\/a>. Across the 11 emerging economies surveyed in this report, a median of 82% say mobile phones have been mostly a good thing for them personally, compared with a median of 70% who say mobile phones have positively impacted society. Once again, this same pattern exists in the United States<\/a>; 88% of online American adults say the internet has been mostly good for them, while only 70% say the internet has been mostly good for society.<\/p>\n\n Surveys also show that people are often confident in their own ability to navigate technology, even if they are concerned about broader societal harms. For example<\/a>, a median of 79% of adult mobile phone users across these 11 emerging economies say that their phone has mostly helped their ability to get information and news about important issues, even while about two-thirds of adults say people should be very concerned about exposure to false or incorrect information when using their mobile phones. And in the U.S., a large majority of adults are very or somewhat confident in their ability to recognize made-up news<\/a>, although nearly two-thirds say it has caused a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current events.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Findings in this survey highlight that publics generally see both benefits and harms emerging from mobile phones, the internet and social media in their societies. In many cases, the more a person sees benefits \u2013 such as technology making people more informed \u2013 the more they are also likely to see negatives, such as connectivity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[297,128,329,282,308,284,57,25,274,307],"tags":[],"bylines":[973,868,909,954],"collection":[],"datasets":[1019],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[525,526],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-93240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emerging-technology","category-international-technology","category-misinformation","category-misinformation-online","category-mobile","category-online-activism","category-political-civic-engagement","category-politics-policy","category-politics-online","category-social-media","bylines-aaron-smith","bylines-courtney-johnson","bylines-jingjing-jiang","bylines-laura-silver","datasets-mobile-technology-social-impact-2018","formats-report","research-teams-global","research-teams-internet"],"label":false,"post_parent":93298,"word_count":383,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-appendix-b-technology-related-surveys-regularly-find-that-people-see-connectivity-bringing-positives-and-negatives\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[{"id":93298,"title":"Publics in Emerging Economies Worry Social Media Sow Division, Even as They Offer New Chances for Political Engagement","slug":"publics-in-emerging-economies-worry-social-media-sow-division-even-as-they-offer-new-chances-for-political-engagement-2","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/publics-in-emerging-economies-worry-social-media-sow-division-even-as-they-offer-new-chances-for-political-engagement-2\/","is_active":false},{"id":93290,"title":"1. Users say they regularly encounter false and misleading content on social media \u2013 but also new ideas","slug":"users-say-they-regularly-encounter-false-and-misleading-content-on-social-media-but-also-new-ideas","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/users-say-they-regularly-encounter-false-and-misleading-content-on-social-media-but-also-new-ideas\/","is_active":false},{"id":93283,"title":"2. More people are comfortable discussing politics in person than on their phones or via social media","slug":"more-people-are-comfortable-discussing-politics-in-person-than-on-their-phones-or-via-social-media","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/more-people-are-comfortable-discussing-politics-in-person-than-on-their-phones-or-via-social-media\/","is_active":false},{"id":93273,"title":"3. Publics think technology impacts the political environment in both positive and negative ways","slug":"publics-think-technology-impacts-the-political-environment-in-both-positive-and-negative-ways","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/publics-think-technology-impacts-the-political-environment-in-both-positive-and-negative-ways\/","is_active":false},{"id":93265,"title":"Acknowledgments","slug":"technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-acknowledgments","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-acknowledgments\/","is_active":false},{"id":93260,"title":"Methodology","slug":"technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-methodology","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-methodology\/","is_active":false},{"id":93248,"title":"Appendix A: About the focus groups","slug":"technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-appendix-a-about-the-focus-groups","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-appendix-a-about-the-focus-groups\/","is_active":false},{"id":93240,"title":"Appendix B: Technology-related surveys regularly find that people see connectivity bringing positives and negatives","slug":"technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-appendix-b-technology-related-surveys-regularly-find-that-people-see-connectivity-bringing-positives-and-negatives","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-appendix-b-technology-related-surveys-regularly-find-that-people-see-connectivity-bringing-positives-and-negatives\/","is_active":true},{"id":93234,"title":"Appendix C: Detailed tables","slug":"technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-appendix-c-detailed-tables","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-appendix-c-detailed-tables\/","is_active":false}],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":{"id":93240,"title":"Appendix B: Technology-related surveys regularly find that people see connectivity bringing positives and negatives","slug":"technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-appendix-b-technology-related-surveys-regularly-find-that-people-see-connectivity-bringing-positives-and-negatives","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-appendix-b-technology-related-surveys-regularly-find-that-people-see-connectivity-bringing-positives-and-negatives\/","is_active":true,"page_num":8},"next_post":{"id":93234,"title":"Appendix C: Detailed tables","slug":"technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-appendix-c-detailed-tables","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-appendix-c-detailed-tables\/","is_active":false,"page_num":9},"previous_post":{"id":93248,"title":"Appendix A: About the focus groups","slug":"technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-appendix-a-about-the-focus-groups","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/technology-and-politics-in-emerging-economies-appendix-a-about-the-focus-groups\/","is_active":false,"page_num":7},"pagination_items":[{"id":93298,"title":"Publics in Emerging Economies Worry Social Media Sow Division, Even as They Offer New Chances for Political Engagement","slug":"publics-in-emerging-economies-worry-social-media-sow-division-even-as-they-offer-new-chances-for-political-engagement-2","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/publics-in-emerging-economies-worry-social-media-sow-division-even-as-they-offer-new-chances-for-political-engagement-2\/","is_active":false,"page_num":1},{"id":93290,"title":"1. Users say they regularly encounter false and misleading content on social media \u2013 but also new ideas","slug":"users-say-they-regularly-encounter-false-and-misleading-content-on-social-media-but-also-new-ideas","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/users-say-they-regularly-encounter-false-and-misleading-content-on-social-media-but-also-new-ideas\/","is_active":false,"page_num":2},{"id":93283,"title":"2. More people are comfortable discussing politics in person than on their phones or via social media","slug":"more-people-are-comfortable-discussing-politics-in-person-than-on-their-phones-or-via-social-media","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2019\/05\/13\/more-people-are-comfortable-discussing-politics-in-person-than-on-their-phones-or-via-social-media\/","is_active":false,"page_num":3},{"id":93273,"title":"3. 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