Arriving home from school on the weekdays, many students get up to date with Facebook updates, blogs, news sites, YouTube subscriptions and countless other media and social networking outlets. Even a few years ago, this effortless access to information would not have been possible.
Junior Mostafa Rohaninejad believes the evolution of media turnaround has a rather positive effect.
“I actually appreciate the trend because I feel like it’s causing more people to get involved with politics and to be more aware of how the world is getting around,” Rohaninejad said. “I feel like it gives an outlet for people in third world countries who are facing rebel movements like the Arab Spring to tell the rest of the world what’s going on.”
A new and surprising news source comes in the form of Tumblr. Users post and reblog many newsworthy events, and viewers are able to access information. Junior Jessica Pham credits Tumblr for her knowledge of current events.
“Actually, [Tumblr] is useful sometimes,” Pham said. “I remember on Election Day, right when I refreshed my page, I found out that Obama won the election.”
Pham said that although Tumblr is mainly known as a blogging platform, it can also be a reliable news outlet and can always be counted on for its timeliness in delivering information.
“People always blog things right when it happens and [news] always shows up on my dashboard,” said Pham. “I knew about the tsunami in Japan and hurricane in Hawaii before most people.”
Recently, YouTube as a news source is becoming more popular as well. Freshman Naveed Riaziat relies on satirical channels such as The Phillip DeFranco Show and SourceFed to keep up with current events.
“I like [the channels] because they mix news with humor,” said Riaziat. “It’s very opinionated and interesting; traditional news outlets like NBC and CNN are too formal.”
Nowadays news is often mixed with satire and humor such as “The Colbert Report” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” Rohaninejad appreciates these programs for “pointing out problems that you would not be able to do otherwise,” as well as voicing their opinions.
Even social networking sites like Facebook are used by some people for quick news references. English teacher Suzanne Herzman occasionally relies on the statuses and stories from her Facebook news feed for quick updates on current events.
“Right after the Giant’s World Series ended I felt an earthquake and wondered if I was the only one who felt it,” said Herzman. “Instead of going to some government site, I went on Facebook to see if other people had felt it too.”
These transitions from paper to websites, to YouTube, and many more have become a part of students’ lives and ways to keep up with current events.
“When I watch news,” said Riaziat. “I want to be able to get information and enjoy it at the same time.”
