Keeping Current

When I was in school back in the 90's (don't laugh, you'll be old too someday), I tried to keep up with current events while learning from my private SAT tutors.  But not really.  I mean, I knew they were something I was supposed to try to keep up with, and I did have some sense of what was going on in the world, but it felt like more of a chore than anything.

Then, in 2000, I went to college, and between the crazy Bush-Gore presidential election, 9/11, and the Iraq War, I found myself becoming genuinely interested in current events.  Further, a lot of the friends I made in college were interested in current events, and we'd talk about them a lot.  So I got into it.

And here's the thing about following current events—when you first start following, it may feel a little forced, but after a little time, the world starts to become really fascinating.

It's all about context.

Picture you start watching a new TV show, like Glee or Lost or Mad Men or American Idol, sometime in the middle of the third season of the show.  Watching the very first episode, you'd be like, "Okay, this is kind of interesting I guess, but I don't really know what's going on and I'm not sure who the characters are."  The next episode you watch will be a bit better—you'll have a handle on some of the key plot lines and you'll remember characters from the first episode.  By your fifth episode, you're totally hooked.  You know all the characters, all the key plot lines, and you can't believe you have to wait another week before the next episode.

It becomes addictive when you get it.  When you understand the context.

So though following what's happening in the world will feel a bit like a chore at first—though you won't know many of the characters or key plot lines—if you just stick with it, the world will quickly become a "must watch" for you.

Now, notice that nowhere above did I refer to following current events as "reading the news" or "watching the news."  That's old-fashioned talk.

Today, you can keep up with the world in all kinds of ways.  So you can figure out what works best for you and your life, whether it's reading printed materials, reading on your computer or phone or iPad, listening on your iPod or on the radio, or watching on TV.  I'll list some of them for you below, but first, a quick note about objective vs. subjective:

When you follow the world, you'll do so in two major categories, objective (straight news) and subjective (people expressing their opinions).  Both are important—the objective part is telling you, "Here's what is happening" and the subjective part is all kinds of people telling you, "Here's what I think is important about what's happening, why I think it is happening, what I think it means, what I think should have happened, and what I think should happen in the future."  You want to take in enough of the objective stuff that you know what's going on, but I find that the subjective, opinion stuff is more interesting and fun to follow (and you can learn a lot of the objective news from the opinion stuff).  And if you can, try to take in opinions from all sides of the political spectrum, even when you don't agree with them.  Getting a balanced opinion load is important for your overall understanding.

Okay, onto the list—

Reading:

• News sites like CNN.com, NYTimes.com, WallStreetJournal.com, and about 200,000 others.  Almost all news sites also have a tab labeled "Opinion" where you can find their subjective stuff.
• Any major newspaper.
• Magazines.  Check out Time or Newsweek for a user-friendly, nicely-packaged blend of news and opinion, or The Economist for something a bit more advanced.
• Opinion websites.  These are sites that scour the web for the best opinion pieces from the day and post them in one place. Check out Real Clear Politics (slightly right-leaning), The Drudge Report (right-leaning), and The Raw Story (left-leaning).  
• Apps.  Most major publications (and all the above-mentioned) have great phone / iPad apps.

Listening:

• Podcasts.  These are a personal favorite—a way for me to hand-pick my favorite things to listen to and have them neatly lined up on my iPod so I can listen during my commute, while waiting in line, while folding laundry, cooking, or whatever.  Check out our previous post on podcasts for some great suggestions.
• The radio.  Mainly NPR, which is a fantastic source for news.  NPR also has a great website, a great app, and dozens of excellent podcasts.

Watching:

• In addition to the news you'll find on the major networks (CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX), check out CNN, MSNBC (left-leaning), and FoxNews (right-leaning) for entertaining (and often highly biased) news and opinion coverage.
• The Daily Show and The Colbert Report (both left-leaning) on Comedy Central are hilarious and actually pretty informative as well. 
• Meet the Press, on NBC every Sunday, is an excellent way to keep up.  In one hour, they cover the most major stories and always have prominent guests on to share their opinions or debate each other.

It may seem daunting, but just start somewhere!  You'll be happy you did.