Teens who follow the news on social media are more likely to support the First Amendment

Teens who follow the news on social media are more likely to strongly support the First Amendment, according to a new survey.

"Students who actively engage with the news on social media — discussing news with others, commenting on news stories, posting links to news stories — are more supportive of First Amendment freedoms," said a report from the Knight Foundation, a nonprofit focused on journalism and free speech.

The survey found a correlation between agreeing with the statement that "people should be able to express unpopular opinions" and social media use. Seventy-one percent of high school students who "often" discussed the news on social media agreed with that statement, versus 56 percent of students who "never" discussed the news online.

The same correlation with support for free speech applied to teens who got their news from mobile devices and got news from online videos.

The survey found that more female students than male students got their news from social media – 58 percent versus 46 percent. Black students "tend to be much more active" with news on social media, the report said.

The Knight Foundation survey asked almost 12,000 high school students and roughly 720 high school teachers about First Amendment rights, free speech and censorship.

“This year’s study paints a very favorable picture of the future of the First Amendment. Today’s high school students are more supportive of free expression rights than any we’ve surveyed in the past. The most supportive students are also heavy news and digital media consumers, those that regularly see First Amendment freedoms play out as producers or consumers of information,” report author Kenneth Dautrich said in a statement.

Among the report's other findings:

• High school survey respondents were less concerned about privacy of information online than adults. Thirty-one percent of high school students were very concerned for privacy of information online, compared to 65 percent of adults.

• Students also agreed that people, not just professional journalists, should be allowed to take photos or record video of whatever they want and publish it.

• Sixty-four percent of students said they would be very or somewhat likely to record a news event themselves if they saw it happening.