Sign up for The Media Today, CJR’s daily newsletter.
Not uncommonly, as a teenager in today’s society, I spend a great deal of time every day on my cell phone. Fortunately, as it is a smart phone, I have access at my fingertips to thousands of news sources, and these companies are becoming ever more mobile-friendly. Many of the nation’s top new sources, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN have created apps for mobile devices. This way, rather than sit down and read the paper every morning, I can get my news wherever and whenever I please.
As a high-school student, I am constantly on the go, and I hardly have time to sit down for breakfast every morning, much less time to read or watch the news. Thus I really appreciate the easy accessibility mobile news apps provide, since I can scroll through them and get the latest updates while I wait in line for my coffee or have extra time in between classes.
One of the most common ways I get my news from on my phone is Twitter. Almost all major news sources have accounts that anyone can follow, and they are updated every few minutes. This way, I can find out the breaking news as it happens, as opposed to waiting to hear about it the next day in the paper. Twitter is also a social media site, I check it many times throughout the day to read updates from my peers. Since I also follow multiple news accounts, I am frequently updated with various news tweets simultaneously as I am with my peer’s tweets. This balance of social and news information is very palatable to myself as a teenager.
Click here to read other essays on “How kids get their news.”
Has America ever needed a media defender more than now? Help us by joining CJR today.
