Media has changed our generation.
It has allowed us to get lazy by reading an article on Facebook and leaving feeling an expert on a controversial topic. How much of our generation actually knows what a grand jury is, or what the details of the Ferguson situation are? Very few, without the help of social media in the form of joking tweets, controversial articles a classmate shared, or pictures on instagram showing the violence occurring. But how many of us actually researched the facts of the case from all sides of the media, and formed our OWN opinion? 

This is where my problem lies: we have allowed social media to become so convenient, that we have forgotten to read deeper and form thoughts and opinions of our own: not that of a person’s political or personal agenda. 

Sure, collaborating thoughts and ideas and agreeing with people is great! That’s what makes our generation so intuitive. But at what line do we draw where it becomes one side versus another, and your only reason to decide on your own opinion is because of a meme you saw retweeted? 

I encourage a change in my generation.
We must form an opinion about important topics, and decide for ourselves whether or not we believe in a certain decision, policy, idea, or concept. It’s about more than scrolling through your timeline while half asleep, too lazy to go to class! We should care about things like the Brown case in Ferguson, as well as the rest of world news — not because they will help us look smart at the bar or at family holidays when the one brilliant uncle says something you disagree with, but because they directly shape our future. 

Caring about events now, is an investment later.
But what if things are boring? I agree, I could care less about China’s economy. But what happens when another country’s economy affects the U.S.? And what happens when we start paying taxes, applying for home loans, and building investments…and are clueless to our own economic state? Guess what: the world economy will begin looking a lot more interesting.

Moral of the story is to base your opinion off of more than Kermit sipping tea as he has a sarcastic comment, because guess what: the news? It is all of our business, tho.