153

Informasi - ISSN (p) 0126-0650; ISSN (e) 2502-3837 
Vol. 50, No. 2 (2020), pp. 153-164 doi: http://doi.org/10.21831/informasi.v50i2.28463

Millennial generation and family literacy within the dissemination 
of  hoax in Whatsapp group

Ririn Puspita Tutiasri
Prodi Ilmu Komunikasi, FISIP UPN Veteran Jawa Timur

ririn_puspita.ilkom@upnjatim.ac.id

Ade Kusuma
Prodi Ilmu Komunikasi, FISIP UPN Veteran Jawa Timur

adekusuma185@gmail.com

Article History: Received 2019-11-29, Revised 2020-11-23, Accepted 2020-11-30

ABSTRACT

The millennial generation emerges in the era of advanced technology. The characters of 
the generation tend to have advanced knowledge of both technology and information. 
This convenience, spreading information easily, causes difficulty identifying whether 
or not the news is factual. Media literacy is necessary for millennials considering this 
generation is familiar with modern technology. Data are collected through observations 
and in-depth interviews. The analysis results that spreading Hoax via group chat is 
capable of anyone, including close and trusted family members. To prevent the act of 
disseminating Hoax in family and sibling, thus, a family member has an important 
role in reminding each other of the relevance of media literacy. This study concludes 
that knowledge and mastery of technology and the management of information from 
millennials are essential. Therefore the spreading Hoax is diminished. Literacy from 
generation to response disseminating Hoax in WhatsApp group provides knowledge 
to group members, especially parent, to be not gullible and easily provoked to single 
information. The opportunity of disseminating Hoax through a family group in 
WhatsApp is higher because of the mutual trust among family members and shared the 
information without clarifying it. 

Keywords: Family Literacy, Hoax Information, Whatsapp Group



154

Informasi, Volume 50. Nomor 2. 2020

INTRODUCTION 

The rapid flow of technology has 
driven the fast flow of information. When 
information is uploaded through technology, 
the information has widespread throughout 
the world and difficult to retrieve within 
seconds. 

The advance of technology also causes a 
social shift in society (Anderson & Sulistyani, 
2019). For instance, a long time ago, to know 
and to get information is by reading, but now 
is by browsing. For instance, to know how 
our neighbor is doing by greeting each other 
or visiting them, but today by checking their 
status in social media is enough. Social media 
is a product of technology to simplify space 
and time to search for information, interact, 
and share information with others. 

Social media’s positive impact is to 
make its users closer as if they are near each 
other by knowing other users’ information 
when they share or upload a status or 
information on social media. Social media 
appeared in 2002 by launching Friendster’s 
application and followed by other social 
media such as Linkedin, MySpace, Flickr, 
Facebook, and Twitter to connect users to 
exchange information. Through social media 
application, people can share information 
and make a friend, even, making someone 
famous.

In 2009 WhatsApp application appeared 
as a chat application when its users share 
information personally, not openly like on 
Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace, 
Twitter, Path, Friendster or other apps that the 
users can actively involve to share, participate, 
comment, and communicate interactively. 
WhatsApp is a chatting application or instant 
messenger that focuses on sending a message 
in text, picture, or voice in person or a group 
to create an interaction between the users. 
WhatsApp replaces SMS and phone calls at 
a lower price because phone calls and SMS 
use credit, whereas this application only 
uses an internet quota. Smartphone users 
commonly use the application because the 
amount of WhatsApp users in Indonesia had 
reached 83% from 150 million, and most of 

the active internet users were social media 
users (Haryanto, 2019).

The family group in WhatsApp is useful 
for a family member who lives in a different 
town. The members always expect to be 
closer. Family is a bloodline relationship; from 
a family, a person grows up and developed 
with values that have been taught by the 
family. Besides, a family is a primary group 
because interaction among the members is 
exclusive. Family relationship is not only 
through bloodline but also through marriage 
or adoption. In the family WhatsApp group, 
the shared information is spread easily to 
group members. 

The content itself is about a warning, 
problem solution, happy news, and other 
news that is intended for the good of family 
members. The shared news includes family 
conditions, politics, health, economics, 
religions, and socials, which sometimes 
trigger feud among the members. The 
feuds usually start with an unclear and 
false source of information that contains 
offensive meaning to other family members. 
Information causes disagreement because 
the truth of the information is doubtful or 
Hoax in nature — especially parents in the 
group who have not adequately filter out 
accurate information or Hoax.

Hoax is a manipulation of fact which 
turns into false information for specific 
purposes. Hoax divided into six: false idea, 
offense principle, media manipulation, 
balancing, objectivity, and against moral 
neutrality (Cohen-Almagor, 2013) It makes 
the need for media literacy capabilities, the 
ability to analyze. There are four capabilities 
in media literacy, which are analysis, compare 
or contrast, evaluation, and abstraction 
(Potter, 2010) 

Literacy defines as an openness towards 
information from media or information 
literacy, critical, and sensitive to the 
surrounding environment. Literacy aims 
to bring benefits to the community and to 
give knowledge of how to sort and select a 
message. Media literacy audiences have few 
characteristics. Some people are aware of the 
dangerous effect and degradation of media, 



155

Ririn Puspita Tutiasri & Ade Kusuma, Millennial generation and family literacy within the dissemination of  hoax 

like a short-tempered person who does not 
relate to media; others characteristically 
have an ability to enjoy, understand, and 
appreciate the content of media (Fitryarini, 
2016). It includes millennial roles in the 
WhatsApp group family. Because consuming 
a media needs knowledge (Baran & Davis, 
2010), the ability and eagerness to understand 
and comprehend the meaning of a message 
or information received is important. Media 
has power in delivering a message; thus, 
the receiver has to own knowledge and 
appreciation of media message power. The 
receiver also needs to differentiate a reaction 
and emotional reason while responding 
to the message’s content of information 
appropriately. They are establishing a high 
hope to media by constructing a strategy 
to analyze and discuss media messages, 
understanding the content of media as 
knowledge of conversion genre along with 
an ability to instigate when the content is 
mixed-up. Critical thinking to media content 
is significant even though it has a credible 
source. The last is the importance of internal 
language and a comprehensive skill on 
understanding media’s complicated effects.

Meanwhile, media literacy is a literate 
media movement as individual control to send 
and accept a message (Baran & Davis, 2010). 
Media literacy is a skill in media sequence in 
every situation, time, and media. Based on 
the definition of media literacy, media users 
need to act when accepting information. It is 
necessary to know the truth of the information 
and evaluate the utilization of media.  
Therefore, the literacy movement on social 
media is essential because the technology 
to filter the truth about information has not 
been made yet. The ability of media literacy 
among the millennial generation towards 
spreading hoax in the WhatsApp group is the 
background of this research.

LITERATURE REVIEW 

Media Literacy 

The development of time and technology 
causes the need for media monitoring or 
literacy to its users to filter information 

obtained from the media. Media literacy 
teaches the public to be critical when 
receiving information through the media, 
not directly receiving the message. 

Critical media requires skills and abilities 
in sorting and selecting messages received in 
the media. In reaching critical media literacy 
and awareness, we need seven skills (Potter, 
2018) which are: first, analysis ability to 
reduce the received message into meaningful 
elements: second, evaluation over the 
meaning of the elements: third, grouping, it is 
categorizing whether the elements are similar 
or different to each other: fourth, induction 
is concluding the previous grouping by 
generalizing the elements’ pattern: the fifth 
is deduction, using the general principle to 
explain the specific matter: sixth is synthesis, 
gathering the elements into a new structure: 
seventh is an abstraction, creating a brief, 
clear, and accurate description to develop the 
essence of assumption from a message which 
is briefer than the original message. 

Media literacy is essential because of the 
strong influence of the media on the public. 
Through media literacy, the public can 
understand how to influence and use media 
properly.

Family 

A family is a primary group in human life, 
a place for a person grows up, develop, and 
learns. The family also a place of comfort and 
care for its member.  Through a family, values, 
norms, and principal of life are embedded 
because family is a prior group to figure the 
meaning of life of a person. The family has 
several functions for its members, which is 
reproduction and emotional socialization, 
and economic support function. This is a 
series of life that exists in a primary group, 
when appropriate growth and development, 
while its members are still dependent on 
each other (Tutiasri et al., 2019) 

Within the WhatsApp Group, it is easy 
to share messages containing hoaxes due 
to kinship, to which the Whatsapp group is 
used as a medium for interacting and sharing 
news with family members. Communication 



156

Informasi, Volume 50. Nomor 2. 2020

in a family is a process of expressing a message 
among its members like from the father, 
mother, grandparents, children, husband, 
wife, in-laws to the receiver, and vice versa. 
The messages though can be information, 
advice, direction, or favor.

Berns wrote five basic functions of 
families: (Berns, 1997). First is reproduction 
because a family has to maintain the 
population in a community due to the 
continuity of the human population: the 
second function is socialization or education; 
the family is the media of transmitting moral 
value, belief, manner, knowledge, skill, and 
technique from the previous generation to the 
next generation. Family is a place to connect 
a value from one generation to another. 
The third is ascribing social role; family 
gives identity to its members specifically, 
for example, race, ethnicity, religion, social 
economy, and gender role. The fourth is 
economic supports; family is a shelter and 
life for its members, such as a house, food, 
and life. 

The last is emotional supports; family 
gives an experience in communication 
and social interaction for children. Family 
interaction creates nurture, secure, and vital 
experience for children.

Family WhatsApp Group

Technological advances have created 
many innovations in technology, one of 
which is in the communication sector. This 
improvement generates a more effective 
communication process through emerging 
gadgets. Gadget on android has changed 
the process of communication through its 
sophisticated features such as WhatsApp. 
WhatsApp is an instant messenger application. 
Its users are capable of communicating by 
sending messages, pictures, audio, visual 
audio, and making a call both on voice 
and video call (Tutiasri et al., 2019). This 
application connects person-on-person and 
connects a person in a group that is currently 
known as WhatsApp Group (Rianto, 2016) 
message and information exchange in 
WhatsApp Group is considered interesting 

because dialogues or conversations are 
always ongoing, although particular people 
dominate those conversations. Participants’ 
characteristic is categorized into two: active 
and passive members or silent readers, who 
only observe the conversation in the group. 

Many families utilize the WhatsApp 
group as a medium of communication within 
their main or big families. The purpose of this 
group becomes a medium of communication 
because it has a lot of benefits. The WhatsApp 
group’s benefits are strengthening the 
relationship among the members, increasing 
self-faith of its members, a place for giving and 
receiving attention, reminding each member 
about something, and exchanging messages 
or information. (Prasanti & Indriani, 2016) 

Millennial Generation

The millennial generation was 
born between early 1980 and 2000. This 
generation is also named Gen-Y, Net 
Generation, Generation WE, Boomerang 
Generation, Peter Pan Generation, and the 
others (Yuswohady, 2016). They are called 
the millennial generation because they live 
in the millennial generation’s alteration, 
with the advent of the technological era.  
Hoax information is the negative impact of 
technology. A lot of information or messages 
are unverified (Berger & Milkman, 2012).

 Many information or news on social 
media are able to raise positive and negative 
emotions to the receiver. The viral news 
is distributed without any verification 
from journalism ethics and media law. It 
frequently happens on social media users 
who are not journalists; there is no control 
over journalism, which affects the data and 
information on social media. (Gumgum et 
al., 2017) False or Hoax news that is spread 
on online media has complicated the receiver 
or audience to decide which one of this 
information is valid or not. False information 
triggers conflicts among the audiences to 
claim the validity of their information.



157

Ririn Puspita Tutiasri & Ade Kusuma, Millennial generation and family literacy within the dissemination of  hoax 

Theory of Cognitive Development

Knowledge construction is very carefully 
related to how social interactions are carried 
out with the surrounding environment. 
Adolescence is the stage of development 
before becoming an adult. During this stage, 
teenagers have a lot of capacity to gain and 
apply their knowledge because the brain 
has developed maturely (Sary, 2017). The 
adolescent stage is also reorganizing the 
brain’s frontal lobe, which plays a big role 
in coordinating complex decision-making 
and creating a strategic plan (Sarlito, 2012). 
During this stage, mental development has 
built a cognitive skill to process and filtrate 
information as a way of thinking process 
(Jahja, 2011). 

Cognitive development is the 
development of teenagers’ mental abilities 
in the form of learning, memorizing, 
thinking, reasoning, and using a language. 
The psychological development during 
the adolescence stage consists of two 
developments: mental and cognitive 
developments. Development related to mental 
is marked by sensitiveness, aggressiveness 
from external stimulation, tendency to form 
peer group, and less obedience to parents. 
Second, during cognitive development, the 
adolescent develops to think abstractly, such 
as actively giving critics and a tendency to try 
anything new (Widyastuti et al., 2009)

METHODS

This research is a qualitative descriptive 
study. In general, the research method is 
defined as a scientific way to obtain data with 
specific goals and aims.  (Sugiyono, 2013). The 
research method applied in this research, 
“Millennials and Family Literacy in the 
distribution of Hoax on WhatsApp Group”, 
was using the qualitative research method. 
This type of research used by researchers is 
descriptive research. This research aims to 
explore in detail about Millenials generation 
literacy knowledge in educating the existence 
of hoaxes on social media, such as the 
WhatsApp family group. in social research, 
a qualitative descriptive research format is 

designed to describe, summarize various 
conditions, situations, or social reality 
phenomena that exist in the community that 
is the object of research (Bungin, 2011) 

This article also tried to draw it to the 
surface as a feature, characters, characteristics, 
models, signs, or images, or certain 
conditions, situations, and phenomena 
through this method. (Sukmadinata, 2009) 
In qualitative research is used to describe 
and analyze phenomena, events, social 
activities, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and 
people individually or in groups. In the study, 
researchers conducted interviews with old of 
8 informants and ten informants from the 
millennial generation.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Media Social as a Communication Media 
in the Family 

Technological developments have 
made life more comfortable; you can do 
what you want by accessing an existing 
smartphone application. Social media’s 
existence also brings changes to the flow of 
information, which in face to face changes 
through a media application. Social media 
utilization dimensions are divided into the 
dimensions of information, entertainment, 
communication, and transactions (Buente & 
Robbin, 2008) 

Social media can provide dimensions of 
information, entertainment, communication 
with transactions that will be well chosen 
and used (Fadillah & Jandevi, 2020). Of 
the four dimensions, the dimensions 
of communication, information, and 
entertainment become interesting things for 
smartphone users to choose the application 
for their necessity. Most people are still 
careful to choose the application for their 
transactions. Different from the other three 
dimensions, communication, information, 
and entertainment are necessary for 
smartphone users because, at this time, they 
are entering the era of social media.

Technological sophistication makes 
communication no longer a tertiary or 
complementary need because every day, we 



158

Informasi, Volume 50. Nomor 2. 2020

are communicating. There are free data and 
Wi-Fi packages that have made them more 
efficient than using credit because the pulse 
package shares costs when making calls and 
sending messages. The development of the 
age also makes information quickly spread, 
and both information is public or personal. 

Entertainment is essential considering 
that today people carry smartphones 
everywhere. It also changes the way the 
members interact with one another, 
whether due to family members, friendship 
or professional acquaintances. With social 
media, interaction can be done at any time 
and by all group members. One of the social 
media that facilitates interaction to interact 
through social media is WhatsApp Group. 
This application is used to share information 
and to make members closer.

Each group has different interaction 
levels; the more intimate it goes, the group 
will discuss personal matters. Unlike the 
secondary group, conversations rarely 
involve personal issues because things 
discussed are related to the same interests. A 
family is a primary group that the members 
have a mutual relationship with one another. 
Among the members are close because they 
are accustomed to communicating since 
they were in the family, both born in the 
family, raised and included in the family 
membership. It makes the relationship 
between members are based on feelings and 
personal relationships. 

The characteristics of the primary 
group: the primary group is deep and broad; 
thus, exchange information can reach the 
personality of their members, it is personal, 
the relationship aspect is more emphasized 
than the context , it is expressive, the 
conversation is informal (Cooley, 1992) 

WhatsApp group is a medium to interact 
between family members and to become 
more intimate and more familiar with 
each other. The family members can send 
messages at any time, and other members 
read the message directly. This makes the 
WhatsApp family group easily exposed to 
hoax information because it suppresses the 
information’s relationship aspect rather 

than the content shared.
Moreover, WhatsApp is a large family 

group consists of the older generation, 
the millennial generation, and generation 
Z, which have different characters. Even 
so, the purpose of the conversation is to 
make family relationships more intimate. 
Moreover, the way the delivery is informal 
makes the conversation more relaxed and 
readily accepted. Interaction in the family 
can lead to dependency between family 
members.  When the family is interacting, 
a family is a place for the emotions of its 
members. Emotional disclosure such as 
sadness, disappointment, fear, happiness, 
sympathy, and other emotions is easily 
expressed through family WhatsApp groups. 
This group also has a big role as a support and 
motivation medium to its members when 
facing hardship. Support and motivation 
are significant as a means of affection and 
concern considering the family is the first 
place a person knows interaction. Family 
members experience changes and affect the 
system in the family (Wardyaningrum, 2013). 

The process of exchanging information 
develops the family as a place for channeling 
emotions. Besides, family members interact 
with each other in high frequency and 
repeatedly lead to be interdependence 
between family members. It is making 
conversations in family groups to build the 
emotions of family members to know and 
understand each other. A sense of emotion 
makes family members have a sense of “tepo 
seliro” when an event occurs. 

This equation makes it easy for family 
members to remind one another or do 
literacy when hoax information exists in the 
family group. Data collection in this study 
uses an in-depth interview, which is a form 
of communication between two people, 
involving someone who obtains information 
from others by asking questions and having 
a specific purpose. (Mulyana, 2008)

Old generation’s Perspective to Hoax 
Information 

Changes in the way of delivering 
information influence us on how to 



159

Ririn Puspita Tutiasri & Ade Kusuma, Millennial generation and family literacy within the dissemination of  hoax 

understand the information. An old 
generation used to get information from 
reading, listen, and see from a source, the 
accuracy of the information can still be 
accounted for. Because only a few people 
who had access to make information, and 
communication is still going on to ensure 
the truth of information. This makes it 
easier for the old generation to believe when 
there is information coming into them. The 
development of time and technology makes 
anyone can make a message, even edit a 
message quickly. 

This is still rarely understood, making 
the old generation not check the truth 
of the message he received, even directly 
sharing it. Especially now, the existence of 
a smartphone has made information quickly 
conveyed. Parents tend to disregard the 
source of information received, whether 
the information is valid or not. Leaving the 
information received unchecked is caused 
by several things: parents do not know how 
to check the information because they are 
overwhelmed by technology’s advance. 
Another reason is the receiver has excessive 
trust to the sender due to the senders’ 
closeness to the receiver

One of the easy Social media applications 
to use for the old generation is WhatsApp 
because it is easy to learn. WhatsApp feature 
is sending messages and making calls that 
are the same as using the old generation’s 
telephone. WhatsApp Group is a feature to 
communicate between the oldies and other 
WhatsApp users, whether they are family or 
friends. The oldies feel proud when they can 
follow the development of technology. Their 
excitement is seen when they join a group. 
They often send information.  The oldies’ 
tendency to lead a discussion causes the 
information delivery lead to be a reference 
in the family group. 

Hanafi writes an opinion leader is 
someone who has a relatively significant 
influence on the opinions or views of other 
people in a group they have. According to 
informants from the old’s generation, the 
WhatsApp family group is a place to share 

all information known by their family 
members. (Adi & Setyowati, 2010)

The research conducted on the old 
generations results that they are not 
accustomed to filtering the obtained 
information. Thus hoax information quickly 
enters itself and is then disseminated. 
Even some of the informants from the old 
generation answered that they did not know 
how to differentiate whether it is hoax news 
or not.

“masalahnya yang kita teruskan tidak 
tahu itu hoax apa bukan”

“The problem is we do not know whether 
it is a hoax or not”  

Even when other group members have 
told it, they still look for the information and 
sharing misinformation.

“ya, itu saya tidak tahu apakah itu hoax 
apa bukan, kalau direspon baik ya saya 
bilang, saya juga hanya meneruskan”

“yes, I didn’t even know if it was a hoax or 
not, if it got a good response, I would say that 
I just forwarded the information”

Old generations are more susceptible to 
hoax information than making media literacy 
necessary to find the truth of information. 
Some informants of the old generation 
have sent hoax information when the 
information is around and easily accessible. 
An older generation of informants shared 
information on the WhatsApp group about 
a fire incident in the market where his wife 
was working. Supposedly, before sharing, 
the informant can contact his wife first or 
contacted security to check the truth first. 
There are even informants who work in the 
health sector but also share hoax information 
about health. 

The flow of information in the 
smartphone of the oldies is high-speed 
because they follow many groups, ranging 
from family, office friends, alumni (usually 
starting from elementary, junior high, high 
school, college), social institutions, religious 
institutions, and groups- other groups that 
exist in real life. 

The millennial generation has a better 
closeness with its peers than the elderly 



160

Informasi, Volume 50. Nomor 2. 2020

generation because their closeness is based 
on the stored phone number contacts on 
their phone. Matter of fact, we save the 
numbers of people we knew. the existence 
of technological sophistication, one of 
which is the WhatsApp group, makes the 
users reunite with friends from their past. 
Meanwhile, the millennial generation also 
saves the number of their new acquaintance

Hoax information widely shared by 
old generations was a video about food 
products when it burned, the fire from the 
burning process immediately enlarged. 
Videos related to health and safety.  They 
share this information with family groups 
because there is a sense of security that 
needs to be done to protect family members 
safely. Whether they are new or old videos, 
the videos from within a country and 
abroad are easily shared without checking 
the truth. The elderly generation gains the 
videos from the groups they followed and 
thinks what is shared in the group is true or 
accurate. Besides their motives for sharing 
information in family groups so that they 
are not quiet, they want to live in the family 
group. Sharing information in the form of 
messages or videos is purposely to encourage 
interaction among its members. 

Through the WhatsApp Group chat 
room, the members can acknowledge each 
other conditions and news. WhatsApp 
Group plays the role of creating a good 
bond among the members. Old generation 
admits that they put more trust in family 
group members when reminded about hoax 
information. In addition to the authenticity 
of the sources, the old generation saw who 
confirmed the message. By looking at the 
educational background and the work that 
confirms the message is credible or not.

To the elderly generation, hoax 
information is regarded as new because 
they have not found false information as 
easy as today. Technological advance has 
made a piece of information seems vague. 
There is no difference between false or true 
information. The spreading Hoax occurs in 
two forms which are written and image hoax. 
A message in an orderly structure along with 

the headlines has convinced a reader to 
allow this message to be true. Furthermore, 
an image and source are presented in the 
message can strengthen the content. 

The series of headlines, written 
content, images, and source that included 
in a message has complicated the elderly 
generation to distinguish between true 
and false information. This situation is the 
reason why they are so gullible to share the 
information. While we ask them about the 
source of information, they claim it is on the 
image. 

The image is proof of a fact, according 
to the elderly generation. Because there is 
no existence of technology to edit, add, or 
cut the content of an image in the earlier 
generation. Truth-seeking literacy towards 
specific information or message has been 
applied by a few millennial members, for 
example:

“silahkan dicari digoogle tentang 
berita tersebut, atau ini buktinya informasi 
tersebut tidak benar, sambil saya bagikan 
berita yang benar”

“please check on google about this news, 
or it is the proof that the information is false, 
hereby I share the true news”.

Countless middle age and older people 
dismiss truth-seeking of information before 
sharing it. According to them, it is necessary 
to share the messages they received on a 
WhatApp group as an act of concern. Then 
if the information is a hoax, the members 
still accept it. Many hoaxes widespread 
today and the millennial’s truth-seeking 
literacy to correct the elderly generation 
have convinced them that the millennial are 
capable of distinguishing between true and 
false information. When he got a message 
and doubted it, one of our informants said 
he would ask the group, especially the 
millennial members, before confirming the 
sender’s message.

“ aku gak tahu pesan itu hoax atau tidak, 
makanya aku tanya digrup, karena biasanya 
dikomentari kalau aku share pesan dan 
hoax”



161

Ririn Puspita Tutiasri & Ade Kusuma, Millennial generation and family literacy within the dissemination of  hoax 

“I did not know whether the message 
is a hoax or not. Thus I asked on the group 
because usually, the members would throw 
a comment if the information was false”

Reliability to the millennial generation 
has emerged when the millennial members 
present a fact to deny hoax information on 
the WhatsApp group. The elderly generation 
has begun to accept millennial’s information 
literacy. It shifts message transmission 
and management. Generally, a message is 
accurate when it is delivered by parents to 
children yet today is the contrary. Besides, 
parents occasionally filtered a message on 
whether or not it is appropriate for their 
children. Advanced in the technology 
of communication has changed this 
information exchange where everybody 
has the right to show a truth despite their 
younger age.

How to Literacy Millenials Generation of 
Hoax information 

Millennials are the generation that grows 
with the times and technology, making this 
generation more alert to changes, including 
changes in information flow. Social media 
easily influences users’ perceptions when 
information comes into their smartphones. 
Forums were easily created through social 
media, allowing members to communicate 
and comment so that they were able to build 
assumptions, emotions, and trust through 
the information shared. (Hermawan, 2009) 

WhatsApp group is a forum used to build 
trust between family members, including 
building trust when correcting information. 
Closeness among family members can be 
built through WhatsApp group by sending 
fast information Without direct physical 
meeting. Sharing daily activities allows the 
members to feel closer despite in different 
places. The members share this kind of 
information on WhatsApp group to show 
their affection and concern. 

From the results of research with ten 
informants of the millennial generation, they 
are more passive when sharing information 
in the family WhatsApp group. Because they, 

firstly, examine whether the information 
to be shared is useful or not. According to 
two informants, they said that they have 
never shared information that was useless 
because it would result in the vigilance and 
intimidation of group members. I was so 
careful to send information. Once there were 
informants who felt guilty because they had 
sent the information and the information 
had not been released officially, such as:

“Dulu aku pernah dikira nybar hoax, tapi 
ternyata engga, maksudnya bener beritanya 
(informasi CPNS, aku dapat info dari grup 
antar angkatan di organisasi, lalu aku share 
di grup. Karena tidak ada dilaman, belum di 
update dikira hoax, tapi itu bener karena pas 
aku cross check itu dapatnya dari dosen)”

“Last time, I was accused of spreading a 
hoax, but it wasn’t, the news is true (CPNS 
information from the organization then 
I shared it to other groups. The shared 
information does not on the website because 
it has not updated yet, then other members 
accused that I shared hoax information. Even 
though I have cross-checked it was from the 
lecturer)”

The rise of hoax information creates 
a trust or raises caution when sending 
information. Hoax is a fake and misleading 
message, so that it can frighten those who 
receive it, be identified, and be classified 
(Kholis, 2017). Hoax Information is 
hazardous and unsettling if the truth is not 
immediately clarified. (Ali, 2017). One of 
informants gave a similar example,

“Yang sederhana misalnya, di pasar X 
lagi ribut2 ada jambret, terus jambretnya 
dipukulin sampai babak belur. Dikirim lah 
fotonya. Setelah klarifikasi ternyata kejadian 
sudah beberapa tahun yg lalu, dan beda 
lokasi”

“The simple thing is, for example, in 
market X there is pickpocket, and the accused 
one is beaten to a pulp. The photo was sent. 
After clarification, it turned out that the 
incident had been several years ago, and in 
different locations.”

Clarification of hoax information is 
very important so that the recipient of the 



162

Informasi, Volume 50. Nomor 2. 2020

message does not feel: Alert, scared, agitated, 
and provoked. To reduce the spread of hoax 
information can be done in several ways 
as disclosed by the informants, the first 
by sharing the original facts of the hoax 
information, can be a link from the original 
source of information or the original picture 
of the information. 

Many information that does this when 
there is hoax information included in the 
family group. Seeing how big the family 
group is, or who is a member of the group, 
some group members choose to send facts 
from the information in private (personal 
connection). Personal chat is one of the ways 
to respect other members when they need to 
scold or advise others. 

Moreover, sending a clear message 
to older people on personal chat is part 
of politeness. They are considering that 
informants revealed differences of opinion 
between family members at the time of the 
presidential election, which caused problems. 
Another way is to meet with people who 
greet the hoax news, usually because there 
is a closeness of its own and want to convey 
it in the right way. For example, children 
to their parents, because they still have the 
nature of uploading really (polite) so feel 
uncomfortable when advising their parents, 
in the family group. By meeting the parent 
directly, the millennial generation indicates 
their capability of manners because the tone 
of voice cannot be shown in media.

From the study results, informants from 
the millennial generation did several ways in 
literacy against hoaxes in WhatsApp family 
group by spread the original information, 
confirm the truth of information through 
personal connection, and meet in person. 
Literacy about hoax information is necessary 
to be done because one mistake in certain 
information can lead to an adverse effect 
on the receiver of the information. Through 
literacy of hoax information initiated in 
family, the group is an education facility for 
family members to check any information.

CONCLUSION 
Millennial easily recognize hoax 

information because media is part of 
their habitual life. Whereas in the elderly 
generation, understanding media literacy is a 
process of learning from their environment, 
in this case, is through family WhatsApp 
group. The group is believed as media to 
support each member and avoid misleading 
them because of the affection among the 
members. As the outcome, mutual trust 
is constructed among them as well as the 
truth of information shared on the group. 
This research reveals that Family WhatsApp 
Groups have the capability to filter and 
educate the members about the information 
received, whether it is accurate or hoaxes.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We would like to appreciate the 
Communication Science Department, 
UPN “Veteran” Jawa Timur. And also the 
committee of COMTC UIN Sunan Kalijaga 
and JAPELIDI.

REFERENCES

Adi, R. K., & Setyowati, R. (2010). Proses 
difusi teknologi konservasi lahan 
kering melalui pemuka pendapat 
(opinion leaders) di Kabupaten Bantul. 
AGRITEXTS: Journal of Agricultural 
Extension, 28(2), 117-130. https://doi.
org/10.20961/agritexts.v28i2.43666

Ali, M. (2017). Antara komunikasi, budaya 
dan hoax. In A. Wahyudin & M. 
Sunuantari (Eds.), Melawan hoax di 
media social dan media massa (pp. 
89–107). Trust Media Publishing dan 
ASKOPIS Press. http://e-repository.
p e r p u s . i a i n s a l a t i g a . a c . i d / 2 3 3 2 / 1 /
naskah buku melawan hoax.pdf

Anderson, S., & Sulistyani, H. D. (2019). 
Detecting and combating fake news 
on web 2.0 technology in the 2019 
political season; Indonesia. Journal of 
Social Studies (JSS), 15(1). 103-116. doi: 
10.21831/jss.v15i2.25233.

Baran, S. J., & Davis, D. K. (2010). Teori 
komunikasi massa: Dasar, pergolakan, 
dan masa depan. Salemba Humanika.



163

Ririn Puspita Tutiasri & Ade Kusuma, Millennial generation and family literacy within the dissemination of  hoax 

Berger, J., & Milkman, K. L. (2012). What 
makes online content viral? Journal of 
Marketing Research, 49(2), 192–205. 
DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1528077

Berns, R. S. (1997). A generic approach to 
color modeling. Color Research & 
Application: Endorsed by Inter-Society 
Color Council, The Colour Group 
(Great Britain), Canadian Society for 
Color, Color Science Association of 
Japan, Dutch Society for the Study 
of Color, The Swedish Colour Centre 
Foundation, Colour Soc, 22(5), 
318–325. https://doi.org/10.1002/
(SICI)1520-6378(199710)22:5<318::AID-
COL5>3.0.CO;2-%23.

Buente, W., & Robbin, A. (2008). Trends 
in internet information behavior, 
2000–2004. Journal of the American 
Society for Information Science and 
Technology, 59(11), 1743–1760. https://
doi.org/10.1002/asi.20883.

Bungin, B. (2011). Metode penelitian 
kuantitatif edisi kedua. Jakarta: 
Kencana.

Cohen-Almagor, R. (2013). Freedom of 
expression v. Social responsibility: 
Holocaust denial in Canada. Journal 
of Mass Media Ethics, 28(1), 42–56. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/08900523.2012.
746119.

Cooley, C. H. (1992). Human nature and the 
social order. Transaction Publishers.

Fadillah, D., & Jandevi, U. (2020). Media-
social behavior of Muhammadiyah 
members in China in the framework 
of Alexander Wendt’s international 
communication constructivism. 
Journal of Social Studies (JSS), 16(1), 51-
64. doi: 10.21831/jss.v16i1.34604.

Fitryarini, I. (2016). Literasi media pada 
mahasiswa prodi ilmu komunikasi 
Universitas Mulawarman. Jurnal 
Komunikasi. 8(1), 51-67. 10.24912/
jk.v8i1.46.

Gumgum, G., Justito, A., & Nunik, M. (2017). 
Literasi media: Cerdas menggunakan 

media sosial dalam menanggulangi 
berita palsu (hoax) oleh siswa SMA. 
Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat, 1(1), 
35–40. https://doi.org/1410 - 5675

Haryanto, A. T. (2019). Riset Januari 2019: 
WhatsApp Digilai Netizen Indonesia. 
Detiklnet, 1.

Jahja, Y. (2011). Psikologi Perkembangan. 
Kencana.

Kholis, N. (2017). Melawan budaya informasi 
hoax. In A. Wahyudin & M. Sunuantari 
(Eds.), Melawan Hoax di Media Social 
dan Media Massa (pp. 108–122). Trust 
Media Publishing dan ASKOPIS Press.

Mulyana, D. (2008). Metode penelitian 
kualitatif: Paradigma baru ilmu 
komunikasi dan ilmu sosial lainnya. In 
Bandung: Remaja Rosdakarya.

Potter, W. J. (2010). The State of Media 
Literacy. Journal of Broadcasting and 
Electronic Media, 54(4), 675–696.
https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2011.5
21462

Potter, W. J. (2018). Media literacy. London: 
Sage Publications.

Prasanti, D., & Indriani, S. S. (2018). 
Konvergensi simbolik tentang 
percakapan remaja laki-laki dalam 
media sosial group line. Jurnal 
Komunikasi Universitas Garut: Hasil 
Pemikiran dan Penelitian, 4(1), 1-8.  DOI: 
http://dx.doi.org/10.10358/jk.v4i1.352

Rianto, P. (2016). Media baru, visi khalayak 
aktif dan urgensi literasi media. Jurnal 
Komunikasi Ikatan Sarjana Komunikasi 
Indonesia, 1(2), 90–96. https://doi.
org/10.25008/jkiski.v1i2.54

Sarlito, W. S. (2012). Psikologi remaja. 
Jakarta: PT. Raja Grafindo Persada.

Sary, Y. N. E. (2017). Perkembangan kognitif 
dan emosi psikologi masa remaja awal. 
Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat, 
1(1), 6–12.

Sugiyono, P. D. (2013). Metode penelitian 
manajemen. Bandung: Alfabeta, CV.

Sukmadinata, N. S. (2009). Metode Penelitian 



164

Informasi, Volume 50. Nomor 2. 2020

Pendekatan. Bandung: Rosdakarya.

Tutiasri, R. P., Kusuma, A., & Sumardjijati, 
S. (2019). Perilaku remaja dalam 
penyebaran hoax di grup WhatsApp. 
Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi, 2(1). https://
doi.org/10.33005/jkom.v2i1.36

Wardyaningrum, D. (2013). Komunikasi 
untuk penyelesaian konflik dalam 
keluarga: Orientasi percakapan dan 
orientasi kepatuhan. Jurnal Al-Azhar 
Indonesia Seri Pranata Sosial, 2(1), 47–
58. eprints.uai.ac.id/12/1/110-506-1-SM.
pdf%0A%0A

Widyastuti, Y., Rahmawati, A., & 
Purnamaningrum, Y. E. (2009). 
Kesehatan Reproduksi. Yogyakarta: 
Fitramaya.

Yuswohady. (2016). Millennial Trends 2016. 
http://www.yuswohady.com/2016 /01/1 
7/millennial-trends-2016/.