February 28, 2025/Midnight
Erie, PA – Imagine this: You have just woken up from a beautiful dream. It’s a nice, sunny day, and birds are chirping just outside your window. You wash your face, make a cup of coffee, take a sip, and tell yourself that today might be the best day of the week, that things are getting better. Then, you decide to open the news, and every whimsical fantasy collapses in an instant.
This hypothetical scenario could happen to almost anyone, and it raises an existential question that many 21st-century people might face: Should we stop reading the news? It is hard to deny that staying informed has become a daunting task, given the turbulent world we live in. The news, in some ways, has made the phrase “Good morning” feel artificial and cliché. No, my morning is definitely not good – a Delta plane just flipped upside down, there’s a disease outbreak in another state, and eggs are now taking the spotlight for becoming a luxury. It’s difficult to stay motivated throughout the day when every terrible event around the globe hits you all at once.
The disengagement and even resentment toward news is not just a personal struggle but perhaps a global trend. According to a report by the Reuters Institute, interest in online news has consistently declined between 2015 and 2024, especially among young people from the ages of 18 to 24. While news has always been an essential means of keeping us informed and engaged with the world around us, many are turning away from it.
As a student majoring in journalism and someone who consumes news as part of my daily routine, I must admit that reading and thinking about the news is not an enjoyable activity. More than once, it has left me feeling paralyzed, overwhelmed by events beyond my control. The media landscape, especially news reporting, seems to have reached a saturation point under the pressures of consumerism. The headlines I scroll through every day are not just tools to inform but hooks designed to catch my attention. This phenomenon has become even more noticeable as news integrates with social media, where users’ perspectives are rarely challenged. Additionally, this intersection has turned digital platforms into breeding grounds for misinformation and fake news. As they compete for clicks, fearmongering, sensationalism, and echo chambers have become common tactics.
But these very reasons are also what keep me reading the news. While it can be hard to digest, it forces me to stay aware of current events and allows me to make informed decisions based on facts rather than biases. In America, the press is often referred to as the fourth estate, a force that has significantly contributed to our democracy. While “breaking news” notifications might flood my screen multiple times a day, we should all carefully consider a hypothetical world where the right to access news and other informative media was taken away from us. Having access to news is a protected right that I sometimes take for granted.
However, the more I reflect on my frustration, the more I realize that completely disengaging from the news is not the solution. Instead, news consumption should be about moderation. Staying informed is important but so is engaging in meaningful conversations and seeking perspectives that challenge my views. In a divisive world, ignorance is not bliss; it is an illusory escape that changes nothing. So, while the news I read each morning may unsettle me, I feel grateful that I still feel something, that I am here, engaged with the world, and that I still have the right to participate in it.
It would be terrifying if, one day, the news was taken away from us and knowing what is happening became a crime. Despite the unease, I keep reading – and we all should.
