People need to watch the news.
When talking about said “news,” we’re not talking about latest celebrity gossip, or new sports streaming clips. Genuine global issues. As a society, for future generations, it’s important we reinforce watching the news into becoming a habit and a part of their routine they depend on.
Such things as the weather, natural disasters, crimes, and wars, remain unknown and unseen until its hits a social media platform. Why did we let this generation fall so heavily onto apps such as Instagram and TikTok to become our news sources?
Nowadays, people don’t understand what’s happening around the world, let alone their own state. The addictions caused by phones emphasized the shorter attention span for all people, primarily kids-teens. With that being said, children and young adults aren’t motivated or intrigued to watch the news and gain an understanding of what’s happening around them.
Current wars/genocides are occurring around the world and people who are not being affected choose not to hear about it: Israel and Palestine, Ukraine and Russia, India and Pakistan. It doesn’t take much to take the time out of one’s day and read an article or news story about what’s truly happening.
As of September 10th, 2025, numerous events globally occurred finally making their way into the public’s eye view. For example on one day, September 10 there was the bombing in Qatar which demonstrated that Israel has bombed 6 different Middle Eastern countries, to the death of Charlie Kirk, and later on a revolution for Nepal.
“Free ____” and “I stand with____”, remarks they all make. Although no genuine evidence or information is used to solidify their beliefs in what they’re saying. It’s all just talk with a lack of knowledge to validate it, which our generation abuses.
“If I’m being honest I don’t really watch the news, I just kind’ve got my information from TikTok,” said Zlata Putintseva a senior at Chapin High School. In a Google Poll taken by students at Chapin High, 43.8 percent of respondents said they got the news from TikTok, while 21.6 percent got the news from News Channels and 15.7 percent get their news from Instagram.
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For clarity, obtaining information through social media platforms isn’t always necessarily a bad thing, sometimes it has very beneficial effects and in general helps the public know about issues. However, it is unfortunate that news crews can’t even state the facts without being biased, or making it performative.
“I think that making learning relevant can inspire young people to get more involved in the news” said Mrs. Pratt, a teacher and head of the English department for Chapin. She added that she gets her news information from a variety of sources and believes that its best for our generation to understand what’s going on around us.
Research shows that around 70-80% of the public believes the news is biased with their information, whether that be making a foreign affair appear to be one way or another, or simply leaning towards one issue rather than another.
“I personally believe that the news is biased, it just always seems to lean one way more than the other. Whether it be about, like, the latest celebrity or even foreign affair issues, its like somethings always more supported,” said Mia Kratz, a senior at Chapin High. In a poll conducted with students at Chapin High, 89 percent said they thought the news was biased.
Although the perception of news is altered between each person, its still very important that we understand how significant it is to watch and understand what is going around the world. Finding an unbiased source that’s strictly informative is what we a society need to be intact with our surroundings.
