In reading my classmates blog posts about where they get the news, I found that most of them, like myself, are getting their news primarily from social media websites. Most of them conveyed they used social media as a starting off point, in that they hear about something for the first time on Facebook or Twitter and then turn to Google for more information. Additionally, even those that don’t use social media, all of my classmates admitted that a computer is the tool that fuels their way to knowing the news.
We have a few exchange students from China in our class as well, and I found it interesting that they use the New York Times not only to keep themselves updated on the news but also to help with learning English as well. Aside from the exchange students, though, most students claimed they use the New York Times as one of their primary news sources. This makes sense because the New York Times is designed to be tailored to the news interests of almost everyone. They have stories about sports, health, politics, style and pretty much everything in between.
I’m sure Hedges and Carr would argue that this new technologically-driven way of getting the news from social media is detrimental to the advancement of our society. I would agree with that in a sense, too. News that has been posted about or tweeted about by my friends is often times unreliable because the people posting don’t really have a leg to stand on. They don’t know the truth of the matter but just repost what they hear. However, it’s getting the news out there and making it readily available to people who wouldn’t be reading the New York Times or other credible news sources out there. I believe Sullivan would agree with this. He knows our society is changing and the only way to keep people updated is to change our method of communication.
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