Mac Miller died, there’s a hurricane on the East coast, people are cutting up their already paid for Nike apparel to protest the company’s recent advertisement, and some dude named Brett might carry on Trump’s legacy even after 45 has left the building.
Whew.
Still with me? It would be surprising if you were. And I haven’t even mentioned international events.
There has been no other moment in history where news has been this readily available, and its corresponding commentary more accessible than now. We don’t have to read the newspaper, or tune in to listen to The Morning Update with Rush Limbaugh, or even pay attention to NPR on the way to work. Instead of opening up the Tribune with your morning coffee, Twitter’s Moments will tell you everything you’d need to know in 280 characters or less. Reading the attached link to the full news article has become optional.
Maybe you even follow Trump on Twitter, after all, that would be an excel- lent way to hear exactly what his thoughts are on a certain subject, or what he plans to do, rather than, lets say, a formal press conference or statement.
If you’re not a fan of social media for your news intake, that’s okay because there’s an app for almost every news outlet. CNN? Yes. AP News? Of course. Breitbart? Couldn’t find it on the Apple store, but they do have Fox News instead.
So let’s say you really wanted to be socially and politically aware, and downloaded all these news apps, turned on their notifications, and then now what? Alerts chime in that a super typhoon has struck the Philippines as you’re driving. You’ll read it when you get home.
By the time you’re home, there’s an announcement of another new iPhone, update on the whole Russia-Trump connection, more commentary on the anonymous New York Times editorial, and news that one of China’s most famous actress, Fan Bingbing, disappeared. (To put it in a more Western perspective, it’s like if Julia Roberts or Natalie Portman disappeared after the Oscars).
So, where to start? From most depressing article to the least, or from least politically concerning piece to one that has you looking up the definition of “collusion”?
For some, it’s easier to swipe away the alerts and scroll quickly past whatever news sources they follow on social media; for others, 10 minutes of NPR is asking too much.
Keeping up with the news is hard, it’s emotionally taxing, and extremely frustrating at times. The relation of news doesn’t mean that event didn’t, or isn’t happening, but rather allows for awareness and action to be taken place. The very act of reading reports on topics that powerful and influential people would rather not have you know about, creates a body of informed constituents who better understand the intricacies of the world they live in.
In doing so helps protect against single issue voting, black and white thinking, ethnocentrism, and all the pitfalls of being unaware of the world outside ourselves. Keeping up with the news isn’t easy, and it shouldn’t be, but doing so is well worth the benefits.
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