Do Millenials Care About the News?
By Leigh Kurtzman, Intern
As I was working on a media list earlier today to find publications targeted towards millennials, I came across many interesting articles that seemed to question whether or not millennials even care about the news anymore. I found that there have been numerous studies conducted to discover which news outlets attract this generation’s attention. Data suggests that people between the ages of 18-34 do not visit news sites, read newspapers, or watch the news on television. Many companies and news outlets have invested millions of dollars to try to change this and successfully reach this large generation of users. Older generations are starting to believe that millennials do not make it a priority to stay informed. However, as a millennial myself, I do not believe this to be true.
In my opinion, millennials are simply finding their news in ways that were unavailable for those in the pre-digital age. Social media and mobile phones now play a major role in the way millennials consume news. The Media Insight Project found that 94% of those surveyed owned smart phones, and that the average millennial gets 74% of news from online sources. Since technology has developed so much over time, millennials can find news in faster and easier ways than ever before. I am constantly being lectured by my parents and grandparents to watch the news and read the newspaper in order to find out what is going on in the world. I always tell them that I do not need to watch TV or read a newspaper to stay informed. No matter how many times I tell them this, they just do not seem to understand.
While there are many people in older generations who do not use smart phones or social media sites, most people in my generation do. I do not find news from the traditional news sources that my parents and grandparents would deem acceptable. For example, I receive a daily email from The Skimm, which quickly updates me on major headlines. Most of my friends receive these daily emails as well, and The Skimm continues to become increasingly popular among millennials. Additionally, I click on news stories that pop up on my Facebook news feed. I feel as if I am able to stay updated on current news through these two main sources. Just because I find news in different ways than older generations, does not mean that I do not care about what is going on in the world. I have grown up in a world technologically different from my parents or grandparents, and that is a main contributor of why we do not see eye to eye on this issue. Overall, based on my research and personal experience, I believe that there is a slight disconnect and misunderstanding between generations. While older generations seem to be set in their traditional ways of getting news, Millennials are constantly finding new ways to stay connected.
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