Not surprisingly old people fall for fake news much more than the youth

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At Stanford University, Susan Nash is one of the researchers who've been looking at why seniors may be more likely to struggle with fake news.

"If we were standing in line in the supermarket, and we saw a tabloid," she says, "people in my generation know what that means, but if we see something online, the traditional cues we're used to are not present."

Nash says confirmation bias, the tendency to interpret new information in a way that confirms prior beliefs, can also get stronger with age.

Isolation can be a factor, too, meaning seniors are more likely to be alone, perusing the Internet and hitting the share button. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, people 65 and older will soon be the largest age group in the United States. That age group also tends to have the highest voter turnout.

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