To be honest I purposely do not make any great efforts to follow the news. It's not that I don't care about what is happening in the United States or globally. I blame Covid lockdowns for my lack of desire to seek out news sources. My parents often had the news on during the day as we all tried to make sense of what was happening and how it would impact us. The images of body bags stacked in streets, overcrowded hospital ICUs and graphic descriptions of exactly how Covid could kill me was overwhelming. My siblings and I began to ask my parents to please turn it off. Seeing how awful life was for everyone across the globe was frightening and depressing. We were already upset at missing school, activities, and our friends. This desire to avoid the sad and horrible stories depicted in the news has not left me. Therefore, my main news sources are probably social media such as Tik Tok and Instagram.
Most recently I've been interested in the strategic and brilliant ways in which Taylor Swift uses social media to promote herself and her music. She recently released her latest album, Midnights, using these platforms to build up the suspense and hype. Every two to three days she would select a ball from a bingo cage to randomly announce each new songs title. She released these videos on Tik Tok, to keep her fans on the edge of their seats. Brilliant marketing.
I follow one of my favorite authors, Colleen Hoover, on Instagram. Through her I learn about the release of her latest books, where she is making author appearances, other books she recommends, and updates on which books of hers will be made into movies.
I recognize that books and music may not be considered news to many people, but these are parts of my life that I can share with my friends who have common interests. News of this variety makes me happy rather than depressed. Some may call this living in denial, I call it my own drug free anti-depressant. However, if I do want to know more about something I learned on social media or more serious topics, I seek out news sources I grew up hearing or seeing. My first choice would be NPR especially because I can listen to it while I drive. I often take long road trips and NPR also sometimes has entertaining stories or segments like Moth Radio Hour. This segment includes funny, serious, shocking, and sometimes heartbreaking stories from around the world.
If I wanted to look up a particular subject such as the war in Ukraine, I would probably look on BBC or CNN. BBC tends to have a more global perspective on news stories while CNN tends to be more US oriented. Either I can easily access for free and learn more about national or international events. One final note is seeking out news stories on a more personal level. In that case I would search the specifics in Google and likely be taken to a more localized news source. I recently learned of the death of a high school student from my mom's small hometown, Cuba, in western New York. I immediately googled the story and read the horrific news in the online version of the local paper.
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