The most efficient technique of spreading news in
my generation is through blabbing. Often, I hear news from my closest friends
and am then inclined to research it. Other times, I find out something
terrifying or hilarious and choose to share it with my friends. Social media
these days has sped up this process certainly, though, because that
friend-to-friend contact to share news no longer has to be spoken out loud or
on the phone. Now, that spreading of often entertaining news can take place
through quicker means of Facebook posts and tweets, and if need be more
secretive outlets such as text messages or varieties of "inbox"
messaging.
If the news is leaning towards the purpose of an
eye on morality or lack thereof, I tend to hear it from my parents first. This
often comes in the cases of, "Don't be scared, I just want you to know I
read on the news..." or "I saw something today that just reminded me
how important it is to..." or even the classic, "Haven't you
heard?". I never realized until I was literally typing that last sentence
quite how blatantly obvious it is that news plays towards emotions. This is a
PERFECT example of why society builds up fear of the problems they think are
most prevalent even if media is just portraying them that way. Not once do I
remember hopping in the car with my dad and hearing "Yeah, another kid was
safe at school today" or "Your cousin Susie paid her speeding
ticket!", or walking into the kitchen after volleyball practice to carry
on a dinner discussion about how the grass at school was looking nice that day.
This need for entertaining news, stories to scare the living daylight out of
your soul, to make you love your puppy even more, or to teach you how to get
the most out of a date, makes me incredibly conscious of where I am getting my
news from.
When I read The
Oregonian, look at the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times, peruse
People.com, watch Super Bowl ads, or listen to the radio (my main sources of
news not spoken face to face), I have different goals. Sometimes I browse just to be
entertained, sometimes because I’m bored, sometimes it’s accidental that I
stumble upon something of interest, and mostly to keep up on the news. If I am
trying to stay in the loop, I push myself to check multiple sources, talk to
people of differing opinions, and continue to stay updated on the development
of the topic so I can form an opinion from educated neutrality instead of
succumbing to the view of a particular news source.
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