Though I wish it were different, I feel extremely under educated about the goings on of politics and current events in the world around me. The last time I took a government class was over 4 years ago and even then it all seemed to fly straight over my head. My past 3 years as a college student has presented even more obstacles in trying to stay informed about important issues.
I understand that not all students fall under the categories I am about to describe. I admire and strive to be like the person who puts real time and effort into keeping up with the news and maybe even trades stocks on their phone in their spare time instead of watching Snapchat stories.
However, in general, we don't have the time (or at least don't utilize the free time we do have) to read the newspaper or check the stock market on a regular basis. As students on strict budgets, we typically do not pay for cable and no longer have the luxury of turning on the news every morning as we used to when we lived at home. Finally, as college students we use every bit of our physical and mental energy almost every second of the day. After we expend all of our energy on classes, homework, work, and maybe (if you’re more motivated than me) working out, the last thing anyone wants to do is use their small amount of downtime using more brain power.
As a result, when we find ourselves with some down time, hanging out between classes or laying in bed at night, we choose to do something mindless. We turn to something that will help us slow down for a while: social media.
It’s conveniently located right on our phones and our newsfeed effortlessly delivers photos, videos, and articles based on the people and topics that we are most interested in. What’s even better, we no longer have to watch the news or read the newspaper to stay up to date with current events and political scandals because they are all over Twitter and Facebook. Now that world news is accessible on the social media platforms that we access every day the problem is solved, right?
I wish.
Along with the wonderful ease of getting our news spoon-fed to us via social media comes the great responsibility of weeding out half-truths, extreme bias, and unreliable resources. Though it is very true that bias and false information infects even the greatest news stations and newspapers, I had a startling discovery about a video I came across on Facebook that brought to light the dangers of using social media as a way to stay in touch with important world news. It was a very short video clip of a speech by Donald Trump. Of course, this twenty second video highlighted some sort of extremely racist comment. I rolled my eyes and continued to scroll for a moment until I got curious. Instead of spending my free time scrolling through more Facebook news, I took the time to look up the full video of this speech.
As it turns out, Trump’s speech was not horrible to listen to at all. Whether or not I agreed with his views, he spoke of a few important issues and his plan and how to pursue them. It was a speech that anyone would expect from a presidential candidate and it turns out that extremely racist comment I had seen on Facebook had taken the entirety of his speech completely out of context. I did not have near the reaction to his twenty second sound bit when I had heard it in context of the entire speech as opposed to hearing it strategically cut out and presented on its own.
In no way am I writing this to defend or support Trump, I am simply using this to bring light to how distorted social media can be. If we, as a generation of technology, want to develop informed opinions and make educated decisions going forward, it is crucial that we first develop the ability to weed through the half-truths that surround us.
Bad news truly is good news. The political scandals and outrages will always make the headlines, it is our job to look past the distorted headlines and seek the information that we are truly interested in. Instead of watching a NowThis or BuzzFeed video on the presidential campaign, research information from a more reliable source such as CNN, Fox, ABC, and many, many more.
What’s important is that we don’t let the hundreds of videos and articles that we scroll past on our newsfeed fill our heads with half-truths.
I have accepted the fact that politics, economics, and government will always be beyond my understanding. I understand that bias is inevitable and we cannot control that. However, we can control where and how we get our information. As I continue towards my goal of understanding the world better I will not settle for information written by some random person with a blog or a twenty second video that crosses my Facebook newsfeed. Next time you’re scrolling through your favorite social media, take a second to fact check and become aware of how manipulated and distorted the video you are watching or the article you are reading really may be.
