Being in the age of technology, more and more young adults are straying from conventional news sources and delving into the depths of various social media sites.

The problem with this is often that what they read isn’t from a news site’s Facebook page or Twitter feed; often it’s a personal profile. Young adults are reading other young adults’ posts…often leading to misinformation and conclusions drawn prematurely.

News Whip published its list of the most engaged stories read on Facebook in January 2015, last month. The top fifteen included headlines like “109-Year-Old Woman Gives A Remarkable Reason For Her Long Life,” “10 Signs You’re Living With A Threenager” and “Seattle Dog Figures Out Bus, Regularly Rides To Dog Park Solo.”

Sure there were some hard news stories in the top 150, but none made it to the very top.

What does this mean?

It means that while people will tell you they’re serious about the news, few actually are. The American Press Institute’s report states that roughly 40 percent of young people pay for a news service or app, while around 55 percent are willing to pay for movies and TV. 48 percent are paying for games or music.

Eighty-eight percent of responders to the Media Insight Project, a collaborative project between the American Press Institute and Associated Press -NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, said they get news from Facebook at least occasionally.

Social media is no longer only a place to connect with people, it is now a news outlet of its own. And as questionable as the sources behind each post are, people continue to take the stories seriously. Loaded with opinion and lacking in fact, the stories are still circulated, misleading as they often can be.