Compared with my classmates, it seems like the majority of us receive our news from online sources. It could be social networking or reputable news sites but our news is hardly ever from TV or paper sources. This brings home two realities. One, we are partially disconnected as a majority of young adults hear about news second-hand through others. Many of us follow trends on twitter and pay attention to friends who have shared stories on Facebook but we seldom follow up. News has become more passive and as college students, we don’t have the resources or time to watch daily morning TV and rarely deal with reading an actual newspaper. This is evident by the stacks of leftover daily newspapers untouched in my dorm. The electronic media is more interactive, greener, and allows for instantaneous and continuous access to the news. In terms of civic literacy, I think that this shows the dependance that we have on our relationships and our ability to socialize with others in order to acquire the news.
Hedges would be very unhappy to learn that we were receiving our news from nontraditional sources such as Facebook and online newspapers. Ironically, he has maintained an online presence on Truthdig.com with a running column. He may have argued that our online sources prove our lack of literacy because of technology, but with the web, it has promoted more discussion about these topics. This is something that Sullivan would have promoted. There is a greater social investment in the news.
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