Abstract

This paper provides a resource on the impact of social media on adult learners’ construction of knowledge, particularly as it pertains to adult education's role in fostering a robust democratic society. There has been an increase in the literature in recent years that explores the various aspects of social media use, such as the incivility of online discussion, the homogenous nature of views learners are exposed to online, and the ability of individual and corporate actors to manipulate online content. This paper aims to provide a wide angle view of the situation while achieving two goals (a) development of categories which group implications of social media use (b) argument of low social media information literacy as a challenge facing adult educators.