This Just In! You’re Not Paying Attention

By KAROL QUERIDO ‘22

As we gear up to face the school year ahead, we tend to forget about the events taking place beyond Milton’s walls. Even though Milton is bisected by Centre Street, students don’t have much of a connection with the greater neighborhood, let alone the world beyond. There’s a clear problem with how we get our news, and terrifyingly, some people don’t seem to care about the news at all. 

As I garnered from the survey I sent out last week, the student body is pretty inattentive to events occurring outside the school. 21% of 99 respondents admit that they do not pay attention to the news at all. Although a solid majority keep up with the news every week, the quality of the news they seek was the most surprising to me. While over 70% of respondents acquire their information from relatively reputable sources like CNN and the New York Times, 15% rely on sources such as The Shade Room and Buzzfeed News to provide them with the daily rundown of current events. While it is important to scope out a variety of news sources to understand other viewpoints, these sources should not be your main outlet for well articulated, accurate news. It is important that people inquire a little bit more about where they and the people around them get their news and what level of validity it holds, especially in this age of fake news. The truth is that we students are not as invested in the world around us as we should be. This notion in and of itself is a privilege. The majority of the students at Milton do not feel obligated to keep tabs on the broader world because their livelihood does not extend far beyond the campus’ radius. 

So why should we even have to stay alert about the news at all times? In the survey, one student argued that they “don’t find it all too important. Here for a good time, not a long time.” This shouldn’t even be a question, but that would give too much credit to those who bask in the privilege of remaining ignorant. Being able to stay unaware of the news is a privilege, because it means that your life will remain relatively unaffected by events in the news. Not everyone can afford to be so ignorant. 

Many students on campus go home to a different dynamic, one where politics is always a discussion (and perhaps a dangerous one) at the dinner table. There are many people on this campus for whom the proposals stemming from the presidential debates will directly threaten their daily lives and the lives of the people around them. Whether your life is greatly affected by the news or whether you intend to “just vote for whoever is against Trump” (one student’s motives), paying mind to our political climate and promoting the spread of honest, comprehensive news does matter. We are blessed with the opportunity to tap a few buttons and have fresh news pop up at our fingertips everyday. It’s time for us to take advantage of this for the better.