Don’t Watch The News, Unless You’ve Done Your Homework

How do you feel when you walk into a meeting or a conference unprepared? Here are a few of the attributes that describe me in those instances: insecure, unsure, fearful, shy, and even gullible. As someone who struggles with activities geared towards the extrovert, I am very conscious of the consequences that follow unpreparedness. For the same reason, I don’t immerse myself in the latest news story without doing my homework.

Wait, what does one have to do with the other?

I have grown acutely aware of what happens when we watch or read the news without any self-directed investigation. If I am confronted with a subject that I have no information about prior to the news story being released, I force myself to turn off the newscast or bookmark the page before closing the browser tab.

I realize that this may seem highly counterproductive in a world where we want to consume everything right NOW. Then again, that news story is going to run on loop for at least 24 hours, so there is really no rush to jump into the water without putting on swimwear first.

When we go into a news story unprepared, our ability to think critically is tainted. Instead of asking questions, we are told what questions to ask. And instead of finding the answers on our own accord, we are told what answers to believe. Whether it’s the latest findings on the Ebola outbreak, the plane crash over Ukraine, or the shooting at yet another school in the U.S. — we are being talked at. We are being told what to think.

“You don’t know about [insert the latest news story]? You’re an idiot. Now let me bestow my knowledge onto you. You’re welcome!”

We are being talk at, as if we were children who know nothing about the subject at hand. The worst part: we take what they say with no grain of salt. But lest we forget, news conglomerates often relay information inaccurately. (Call to action: Make a video of all instances when CNN falsely relayed some type of information.)

Sure, it’s all fun and jokes until we realize that the media greatly influences our quality of life and the people at the top who are supposed to make critical decisions on our behalf. Having said that, it doesn’t have to be such a one-sided conversation. When you walk into a conversation prepared and educated about the topic at hand, then there is no reason anyone should talk at you. In fact, you will likely discredit them for their condescending demeanour – and that’s good.

We have access to an ostensibly infinite sphere of knowledge, the Internet. And most of us learned to discern fact from fiction back in school while preparing one of too many theses. Depicting news through the means of critical research is no different from what you we were asked to do in high school. The goal is the same: build an educated opinion about a particular subject and make verified arguments for your standpoint.

Fifteen, even ten years ago, the Internet looked a bit different though, didn’t it? Less overcrowded, more filtered, like the database of a academic journals you were using as a resource to gather information for your thesis. This is, by no means, going in the direction of “Things used to be so much better!” Thanks to the progression of the Internet, our education has been democratized. Still, the tricky thing about democracy is that people must consciously practice their right to speak and think freely. You see where I’m going with this.

Most news conglomerates have an agenda, and it’s not to educate you or me impartially. There is only one side of the story. Remember that this is not yet, a two-way conversation. But we can change that.

We can change the way we consume the news, or any other type of media for that matter, by practicing our right to make up our own mind before being told what to think. We can put on our 21st Century bullshit detectors and think critically about the type of information that is being pushed upon us. We choose what questions to ask, and we analyze the responses ourselves.

We don’t need a baby sitter to spoon feed us opinions. We have a mind of our own and are not afraid to use it.

You know what to do.