My online news consumption habits have changed quite a bit over the last few years. While I used to keep up with the news almost daily, it has taken less of a priority in my life recently as I found it to have some negative effects on my life. With lots of bad events constantly making headlines and taking center stage, I found distancing myself from a daily intake of news was beneficial. However, I still stay up to date on certain topics and stories of big importance.
Usually, on the national or international level, I focus on breaking news and stories surrounding national importance. One recent example was the Speaker of the House election in Congress. On a more state level, I like to focus on issues that will affect me and the community level. I also take a particular interest in business matters, such as new retail/restaurants opening up or shutting down. At the moment, though, I would say that there are no stories I’m following very closely.
I do try to follow news from my hometown. I think this information has a particular interest on my life and will keep me up to date on community issues. While I typically get lots of my national & statewide news on Google and social media, I tend to find a lot of hometown information on local Facebook groups or through word of mouth from my family.
Oftentimes I usually do not seek out my news anymore, unless there is a particular story I’m following. If I do have to go to a news site via typing in the address, I will head to CNN, Business Insider, or MSNBC depending on the content of the story. If it’s a political topic, I also tend to head to FiveThirtyEight.com too. The main way I receive my news though is by browsing the stories on Google which have been tailored to show stories I would likely have more interest in. This is the main search engine I use for news too.
As for what type of mediums I prefer when seeking out information, I typically read text or find interactive graphics. Usually reading text is my go-to option, but I find interactive graphics also convey information effectively for me too. For example, during the election cycles (presidential & midterms), I like to seek out map graphics and live vote counts. Things like videos, audio content, or even slideshows are ways I typically avoid unless necessary.
Social media is another big way I receive my news too. I only follow a few select sites such as TMZ to receive breaking news as I’m on social media more often than news sites so I’ll learn of certain things faster. An example of this was in 2020 when Kobe Bryant died, as I found out because of a post by the Instagram page “Worldstar” rather than a conventional news outlet. I also like to use Twitter as a way to look at instant public reaction to news too. While I don’t follow many accounts, I like to use the trending page to find the biggest stories. Social media is also the only medium I use to interact with reporters or reply to people, as I do not write reporters or post comments to news sites.
As for blogs and podcasts, I usually only listen to podcasts rather than look at blogs. I like to listen to some of the bigger podcasts such as the Joe Rogan Podcast to gain perspective from how lots of celebrity guests think. Otherwise, I’ll listen to podcasts such as the “Monday Morning Podcast” by Bill Burr for entertainment more so than information.
Finally, I take pride in reading posts by multiple sources and ideologies before forming an opinion of my own. I think that this helps keep the information I’m receiving legitimate and unbiased. I’m usually pretty skeptical of big breaking stories (such as the Kobe Bryant story mentioned earlier) until there’s enough evidence to know it is authentic. There have been times I’ve found out stories that I thought were real turned out to be fake, however it doesn’t happen too often as I have become more dubious because of it.
Overall, I think my online news habits are solid and I’m content with both where I receive my news and how often I seek it out.