The Digital Epistemology of Gen Z: Rethinking Truth in the Age of Social Media

Generation Z, the first cohort to come of age amid pervasive social media, confronts a paradox where factual data and affective narratives coexist within algorithmic feeds, fundamentally destabilizing traditional notions of truth. The platform-driven architecture of contemporary social media curates reality through personalized feeds, amplifying emotionally resonant content while marginalizing contradictory evidence, thereby fostering an epistemic environment where truth becomes contingent on algorithmic curation and affective reinforcement. This shift echoes the post‑truth dynamics that emerged after 2016, when algorithmic amplification of emotive content began to eclipse factual consensus, a trend now accelerated by the sheer scale of TikTok and Instagram Reels, which compress complex narratives into bite‑sized, affect‑driven snippets. If institutions and media outlets fail to adapt their verification mechanisms and invest in digital literacy, the epistemic fragmentation fostered by Gen Z will exacerbate polarization, undermine democratic deliberation, and compel a reevaluation of epistemic authority, prompting new regulatory and educational frameworks to re‑establish a shared epistemic foundation.