The world is a busy place, and sometimes it can feel impossible to keep track of everything. How do people do it?

Even I, a world history and events buff, can find it difficult at times. So much is happening all the time, and it is only made harder by media bias and misinformation.

Here’s my first bit of advice: do NOT use social media for your news; it is often intentionally misleading or meant to get your attention.

Instead, find a news source you like that’s reputable. For me, it’s The New York Times. Then, find a topic you’re interested in that’s relevant. For me, it’s anything to do with geopolitics, but to each their own.

The benefit of picking only one topic is that our world is so interconnected that reading about one thing will lead you to reading about others.

Personally, I’ve been drawn back into reading about the Ukraine conflict because February 24th of this year marked the three-year anniversary of the invasion. Why I find this so fascinating is that the war was initially expected to last one or two weeks at most, yet it is still an incredibly pressing issue to this day.

It’s also important to keep up with things that are happening inside our own country.

The Fourth Estate, the unofficial member of the balance of power within the government, is the press. Its job is to report on the wrongdoings of our nation and of the world. However, if people do not listen to it, or worse, if they don’t care, then a crucial factor in keeping our nation free dies.

The First Amendment of our Constitution guarantees the rights of the press to report unfiltered from the government. In the past, the press has served as a key check against government corruption in events such as the Watergate scandal, where several reporters brought to light the illegal actions of the Nixon administration’s re-election campaign in 1972.

Without an aware and informed public, politicians are able to get away with misdeeds far more easily, which can only serve to harm us in the future.

I am not a political activist, nor am I someone who has extremely strong leanings toward either side of the political spectrum, but I am someone who believes that people should stay informed and form their own opinions.

Reading the news allows citizens to stay informed with the going-ons of the world and of our nation. In my personal experience as a heavy reader of the news, the news is what keeps us informed and aware. It can be depressing at times, and it seems more and more like there is only bad news to be given, but it’s crucial to keep your head up above the water.

There are many ways to stay informed, but since the physical newspaper is a dying business, more and more of it is online. I get notifications from The New York Times all day, and while it might get grating at times, it is helpful in keeping up on an hourly basis.

However, since I know that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, here are some other ways to stay in touch with the news:

If you don’t have a news subscription, there are other ways to get it. Talk to people. Word of mouth is a very common way people hear news. The risk with that, like social media, is that there isn’t any fact-checking unless you go out of your way to do it yourself.

Another way to keep up is to just read the headlines. If you click on the time located on the top right of your laptop or swipe left when on the home screen on your phone, you can see recent headlines from major news sources. This can be an extremely easy and cost-free way to get at least an idea of what is going on before.

However, the caveat is that headlines are sometimes misleading. News is a business, and news sites need clicks, so the headlines are often designed to get your attention. It’s not as bad as social media, but always keep a lookout for headlines.

Another piece of advice, the further you deviate from the traditional sources of news, the more I would be skeptical of it. Especially on social media, there is no fact-checking before things are posted or shared, so be extra cautious.

Also, just because some post or reel has thousands or millions of likes and shares, that doesn’t mean it is necessarily true. Try to find if it has a valid source to back it up before buying into whatever it says.

Also another hint, satire has become an extremely common form of comedy in recent times, and organizations such as The Onion pretend to look like an official news source. Make sure what you’re reading comes from a real news team.

The world is a busy place, but that shouldn’t mean we avoid learning about it. Contrary to a belief I have heard many say, politics do affect us. Politics affect everyone, and the news is how we keep up with it.

Here are some resources to help get started:
AdFontes Media Bias Chart Gallery
MediaWise
10 Journalism Brands Where You Find Real Facts Rather Than Alternative Facts (Forbes)
MediaBias/FactCheck