Reading the news can sound unpleasant to young people, but is it the right thing to do?
There are many ways young people in this generation find information about important things going on in the world like social media (TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, etc.). While those sources can be reliable, I believe young people in this day in age should read the news at least a couple times a week.
I’m not saying we have to read or watch the news everyday for the rest of our lives, but it could definitely help young people get a better sense of what is going on in the world around us.
In my personal experience, watching the news with my parents for one day gave me a totally different outlook on life. Social media plays a huge role in whether or not people bother to watch the news or not.
For many people, including myself, I always find information from social media just because I am surrounded by it everyday. Even when I’m not actively seeking out specific information, I still often find it from it just naturally coming up on my feed. It surrounds my everyday life no matter what I am doing.
I tend to always believe what I see on social media solely because of the fact that that is where I always find information. I believe that social media can be a reliable news source in certain situations. For national news though, I suggest that people watch the news to get the real information and to get a better understanding of what is going on with politicians, the economy, and the society we live in.
After watching the news for a couple days with my family, I was able to see what is truly going on in the world which eventually scared me to death. It worries me that our economy is breaking into pieces day by day and I can’t even do anything about it. Just by watching the news, I felt more educated and aware of the possibilities of what could potentially happen next for us.
As I was talking to my parents about the issues going on, they helped me understand the background of politics which led me to forming my own opinion on things. Not only does this help me get a greater understanding of this, but it also allows me to have my own thoughts and feelings on certain topics rather than just listening to other people.
By doing this, I am helping myself because now that I can vote, I at least feel like I am putting my input out there to hopefully change some things in our society. All it takes is a couple people to spread awareness about certain issues and make it known that people should watch the news to be able to form their own opinion. The bottom line is the way things are going to change is if our generation steps up to the plate to form their own opinions and help take action in our society. Reading things on social media can be okay in some cases, but for our safety and the impact on our lives, young people should be reading the news.