It’s one of the greatest epidemics in modern history. It creeps into your life and blinds you, and you follow it unaware of its costs. It takes over you, piece by piece until its there and consumes all of you. What is this great disease? How could we allow something so detrimental reach so many people and cause so much damage?
This epidemic is a lack of information. What we are facing is a society that often turns a blind eye to current events. It is this lack of attempt of educating ourselves on the impacts of such events that can cause a great damage to our society, especially our generation. By not being informed, we lose the passion and the responsibility to make a difference in our society. We lose that want to stand up and make an impact because we are unaware of the issues that we currently face.
What Millennials should understand is that we are the generation of the future. With the real world rapidly approaching, soon we will be out from under our parents’ protective wings and we will be impacted by the government decisions that are being made. We need to begin informing ourselves before it is too late. We need to ensure that as a generation we are being proactive about being informed on the issues rather than reactive if a crisis were to arise.
There is a big issue, however, that could potentially stand in our way when it comes to being informed. The media is often biased and reports important issues in a skewed manner. And yes, I am looking at you Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. Often what we first turn to when it comes to being informed is broadcast media; however, we must be aware of the bias that does exist. Whether it is politically liberal or conservative, it is vital that we are aware of the impact of that bias and the importance of remaining objective.
To overcome this obstacle, we as a generation should start reading. We can use the impact of technology to our advantage and be able to have greater access to an increased number of sources and therefore, read more. Fill up your Facebook or Twitter feeds with different news sources that are from both party lines. There is an app on your iPhone called “news” that allows you to select various sources and regularly updates with top stories from each of these news media outlets. Download a few apps that can send you push notifications whenever there is breaking news. Use technology to your advantage and capture every opportunity you can to read about what is going on within our country and in our world.
I also recommend going old school and picking up a newspaper. Read the NY Times on Sundays. Grab your local paper and at least scan it to learn what is going in your city or town. Spend 10 minutes skimming any newspaper you can get your hands on to gather facts and opinions on the country you live in and the world around you.
By constantly reading, rather online or in print, you will not only be able to gain a greater sense of the issues, but you will also be able to gain a stance on the issues. As your opinion forms, a passion inside you can ignite. You will not only be able to say that you agree or disagree with an issue, but you can also explain why you believe that. You can inspire others to do the same and challenge them to be just as informed, and start a movement among our generation.
So, go. Watch the news. Read a newspaper. Subscribe to apps Facebook pages, listen to podcasts and scroll through your Twitter feeds. Spend at least 10-20 minutes a day updating yourself on what is occurring in the world around you. Find an issue that you are passionate about and learn about it. We must continually be learning about what is happening in the world so when it is our turn, we can make a greater mark on it.
We can make a difference in this world, but we have to get informed first.
