I’m a little ashamed to admit that I’m not always aware of what’s going on around me. I’m often caught off guard when people ask my opinion on current events or political issues, and more often than not I find out about happenings through memes. Recently, however, I’ve realized that this won’t cut it. In an era where fake news is rampant and with a White House and politicians that aren’t afraid to lie, knowing what’s happening in the world is more important than ever. But, the thought of spending time perusing newspapers and sitting through long reports wasn’t enticing to me, and maybe it isn’t to you either. Fortunately, there are several ways to stay in touch without sacrificing all your time.
- Email Briefings These reports are in the form of an email delivered to your inbox on weekday mornings. I’ve been using The Skimm for the past few years: each morning it sends you an overview of yesterday’s events, along with humorous taglines and links to articles for further reading. Occasionally they’ll come out with guides to quickly get you up to date—last year I found one on the presidential election candidates particularly helpful. The New York Times also has a similar newsletter called the Morning Briefing.
- Hourly Reports These are great for an overview of events as they occur throughout the day, both domestically and internationally. Several news sources provide these in various forms, such as radio programs or online podcasts. My personal favorite is NPR’s Hourly News Summary. It’s five minutes long and is updated every hour on the hour—usually, I’ll have NPR on while I’m in the car and catch these en route to class. (You can find your NPR station here.) Another such report is BBC World Service’s hourly bulletin.
- Comedy Shows Of course, these shouldn’t be your main source of news, but they can put recent happenings into context without being too serious. Trevor Noah does an amazing job of this on The Daily Show (and also frequently stresses that it isn’t a news outlet). Last Week Tonight is great as well, especially in that John Oliver has a gift for targeting seemingly dull topics and explaining humorously and without patronization the reasons that they’re important.
These are just a few examples of easier ways to be more aware—there are many others, and taking a little time to find your favorite will be worth it. These are also just a starting point, so researching the topics that are relevant to you in further detail is also important. No news source is completely unbiased, but it’s a step up from whatever crosses your Facebook timeline or Twitter feed. Go forth and find your favorite so that you never look stupid in an Internet argument again.
