by Madeline Best
When six o’clock rolls around each night, I make my way over to the television. I grab the remote and flip past the Kardashian rerun I’ve seen about ten times and finally find the news. I settle down to listen to the top stories of the day; whether they be about politics, international issues, or a positive story that leaves a smile on my face. For a long time now, watching the news has been part of my daily routine. If it’s not the evening news, it’s The Today Show while I’m getting ready for school or CNN on in the background as I do my homework in the afternoon. Of course, news isn’t the only thing I watch. Reality TV holds a special place in my heart, but keeping up with what is going on in the world rather than the Kardashians truly makes me feel more informed on issues effecting the country and myself as a citizen.
As high schoolers, our generation in only a few short years will become adults who participate in government, are more directly involved in the economy, and for a select few become future world leaders. Having a better understanding of the world and the issues going on in it by tuning into the news makes you not only more aware of your surroundings, but much more informed about issues such as Syria and the national debt crisis than Honey Boo Boo ever will. What drives me crazy is when I hear other teenagers talking about how boring the news is or say something along the lines of “Ew, why would I watch the news?”. Honestly, why wouldn’t you? Don’t you have an interest in knowing about things that are affecting people around the world? Do you care that issues being decided on in Washington will personally affect your life or that there are people in other parts of the world that are suffering? It’s important that we, as the up-and-coming generation, know enough about current events to be able to form our own opinions on them and how we think certain problems should be solved. News can teach us more about our world than we ever knew and can shape us into a generation ready to make decisions that will change our country and culture. That’s why I challenge you to turn on CNN, or even to follow CNN on Twitter, and learn about something you never knew about before.
Note that, according to a Harvard study 28% of people ages 12-17 pay little to no attention to any news sources. Another 32% claim to pay attention to only one news source a day. This number is dropping each year.
