The Impact of Media on the News #2

Fake news has become a tragic byproduct of the digital/social age. Social media users are very active and people all around the world wake up or go to sleep watching the news. Typically, people use social media apps such as Facebook and Instagram to gain insight on current events. According to the Business Community website, “A recent social media survey reports that more than 75% [of people] use social media to access news at least an hour per day, every day.” In summary, social media users spend at least one hour per day learning about the news. In fact, 85% of social media users access their news on mobile devices. With that being said, it is important for news to be current, relevant, and unbiased in order to get the truth and nothing but the truth.

Media is growing and shows no signs of slowing down. According to Careersinpsychology.org, “The division is now one of the fastest growing in the APA and has advanced to include new media studies, such as cell phone technology, the internet, and computer and console gaming.” As soon as something is leaked, people and sites are quick to jump on it and often share their opinions along with the true news. Consoles and computers are constantly showing pop-up advertisements that tell users about news happening at the moment or in the past. News is all around us.

Back in 2018, Sciencemag.org stated, “Today, we can take advantage of the fact that much of the conversation has moved to, and is recorded in, the 750 million social media posts that appear publicly on the web every day.” On social media, people have friends and those people have friends. News spreads quickly through social media apps such as Instagram and Snapchat, as the internet is used for people to talk and access things happening currently. Not all comments about news are true, since people may change the real fact and make it opinion-based instead. Local news is know to be a reliable source, containing the most current and true news. In 2018 Sciencemag.org also stated, “First, we chose a broad policy area from a set of 11 areas of both major national importance and sufficient interest to our news media outlets: race, immigration, jobs, abortion, climate, food policy, water, education policy, refugees, domestic energy production, and reproductive rights.” People often change stories to make readers believe that their opinions are fact, which breeds false news.

La Jolla High students refer to social media as a news source and often forget they are reading news by simply checking their accounts. Students and adults around the United States are constantly changing their news providers to get an unbiased variety. First off, two teachers were interviewed about news. Mr. Ulrich said that he has become more involved in the news and it is now apart of his daily routine. He also commented that his news sources have changed drastically because he now accesses more news sources; from newspapers to morning radio stations. Ms. Williams responded to the same questions, stating that she grew up reading three papers a day in elementary school and that she enjoys listening to the AM radio on her way to work. Students CJ Maggio, a freshman, and Davin St. John, a sophomore, stated they are interested in news. St. John said that he is interested in the news and believes it will become more advanced. Maggio responded that, he likes news and believes that technology will advance as well. St. John and Maggio were asked if adults should keep up with the news and they both said that it is very important for adults, as they should keep that same responsibility as they did when they were kids. Lastly, both St. John and Maggio were asked if the news they watch is more informational or humor based. St. John said that his news was more informative than entertaining because of the facts he could learn from viewing these sources. Maggio said it depends on the channel he watches because he utilizes a variety of news sources from different genres.

When adults were young teenagers, they did not have the news variety students have today. The daily and nightly news was different and was not as complex as it is nowadays. The matter of the fact is, news will always serve the purpose of keeping teenagers and adults informed on a daily basis. News is all around us, you just have to look for it.