Attention-Based Design and Selective Exposure Amid COVID-19 Misinformation Sharing

ABSTRACT

One of the significant limitations in human behaviour when receiving online information is our lack of visual cognitive abilities, the ability to pay greater attention in a short time. The question arises about how we handle online messages, which contain and send people with the same associated interests as ourselves, regarding social influences and individual beliefs. This study aims to provide some insight into misinformation sharing. The availability of enormous amounts of COVID-19 information makes the selectivity of messages likely limited by the distortion of perceptions in the communicating environment. It is also in line with the fact that human attention is essentially limited and depends on the conditions and tasks at hand. To understand this phenomenon, we proposed a Tuning Attention Model (TAM). The model proposes tuning and intervene in a user's attention behaviour by incorporating an attention-based design when users decide to share COVID-19 misinformation. In pilot study results, we found that attention behaviour negatively correlated with misinformation sharing behaviour. The results justify that when attention behaviour increased, misinformation sharing behaviour will decrease. We suggest an attention-based design approached on social media application's that could intervene in user attention and avoid selective exposure caused by the spread of COVID-19 misinformation. The study expected to produce continuous knowledge leading to non-coercive handling of sharing COVID-19 misinformation behaviour and laying the basis for overcoming misinformation issues.