My Top Sources Of News and Information

Instagram:

The majority of my news comes from social media, specifically Instagram. After seeing and interacting with one initial post, it is easy to go down a rabbit hole of interesting related topics. Usually, I will see a news segment that has been formatted into short form content from the original news source itself, such as Fox, CNN, ESPN, etc. Other times, I will see alarming scenes from recent events that will spark my attention and cause me to do further research with more credible sources outside of social media. I try to do additional research if an Instagram news post or reel has influenced me before I fully believe anything. 

TikTok: 

Similarly to Instagram, TikTok is probably one of my top sources for news because it is the social media platform most often. I spend a lot more time scrolling on TikTok than I do watching traditional news channels, so I naturally come across a lot of current events there. I also appreciate how I can see different people’s opinions and perspectives on the same story without it being as censored or biased as professional news channels. Just like with Instagram, I try to do my own research before completely believing something, especially if it is a serious or controversial topic.

Google: 

Google is another source I use pretty often, especially when I want to find out more about something I saw on social media. If I see a story that makes me curious or something that I am not sure is true, I will usually Google it and read a few different articles. I like being able to compare information from different sources instead of just trusting the first thing that comes up. I do my best to look for a “.gov”, “.edu” or “.org” when looking for reliable sources. I also use Google when I want more details about a story because social media usually only gives me a shortened version of what happened.

Apple News: 

I would say Apple News is one of my less active news sources, but I still see news through it pretty regularly. I will sometimes get notifications about major stories or see headlines when I am checking other things since it is on my phone. I like that Apple News has a lot of different news stories, but I do not usually go out of my way to open it and read the news. Most of the time, I hear about something through TikTok or Instagram first and then may see more information about it through Apple News on my notifications screen. 

Word of Mouth:

I hear about current events through my friends, family, classmates, and people around me in addition to the news sources listed above. Sometimes I will hear someone talking about an event or issue that happened and realize that I had not seen it online yet. This can make me curious enough to look up the story myself and figure out what actually happened, which is where Google comes into play. I do not usually rely on word of mouth as my main source because information can
easily get misunderstood or changed when it is passed from person to person. It is still interesting to me, especially how we all can be told different things about the same stories depending on our personal algorithms and news sources.