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Be Motivated! Young People and News Engagement

When I think about news engagement (that is, how often one watches or reads the daily news), I often think about my grandparents. Every morning of the week or the weekend whenever they would visit my family as a child, the TV monitor would tuned to a local or national news station (and often flipped between several if there were commercial breaks.) It was a ritual for my grandparents to turn on the news station and listen to the reports while they fixed their bacon, eggs, and coffee and got ready to begin the day.

youngI remember my grandparents because according to statistics, news engagement, such as reading a daily printed newspaper or watching a news program, appears to be diminishing with every passing generation. In other words, there has been an alarming occurrence of young people going “newsless” and news engagement habits – such as my grandparents habit of watching morning news programs every day – seem to be disappearing.

According to a 2012 Pew Research report, a full 29% of younger Americans under the age of 25 tend to be “newsless” on a typical day (including digital news) while older Americans are less likely to do so. In addition to this, young people that do pay attention and engage with the news are also less likely to spend much time with it. Pew reports that those younger than 30 spent an average of 45 minutes engaging with the news while older age groups spend a range of 62 to 83 minutes per day. However, according to another Pew poll, the major audience for “fake” news programs such as Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” or Stephen Colbert’s “The Colbert Report” are youth – some of whom even cite those programs as their main source of news.

I have known these frightful statistics to parallel conversations that I have had with my peers. Some that I have talked with have cited frustration with media in general, specifying concerns about propaganda or bias in major national news networks which causes them to shun media in general. (These are, I expect, people who would watch “The Daily Show” or “The Colbert Report.”) Others do not see the enterprise as very important or relevant to their daily lives and just don’t bother to take the time.

This is worrisome because a well-informed national population often means a strong civic culture. Being informed on current events means that people will be more likely to take action on important issues, whether it be on the local, national, or international level. A father may be encouraged to get involved with the PTO after reading about a decision that his child’s school board makes. A woman may write a letter of concern to members of Congress following an article covering a political issue important to her. A church group may decide to organize a relief effort following news of an international disaster. There are many examples of how paying attention to current events can galvanize people to action. When young people do not pay attention to the news, will they be able to take action and contribute to the democratic system that our country prides? Or participate in international affairs?

In other words: read, watch, and listen to the news, young people. Change your attitudes, change your habits. Establish a routine – such as looking at the headlines of a front page of a news website each day – and find a way to incorporate engaging with the news on a frequent basis. Who knows? You may find yourself motivated to make a stand for your beliefs or to do things that contribute to other people’s welfare along the way.