An ironic twist in today’s society is the fact that young people who spend a fair portion of their day plugged in to various media cites, in fact do not like the media. This idea was supported in the publication of a recent USA Today article that specifically stated that a lack of trust in the mainstream media is common among young people all along the political spectrum.
Truthfully, this is not a surprising discovery. It is widely known that when it comes to political coverage it is not uncommon for people to distrust or second guess the media. What people forget is that the media, is so much more than just your morning and nightly newcast. We hold the media in our pockets, on our laptops and even in our glasses, through the use of technological advancements.
A more accurate statement would be that young people do not want to like news media, particularly political news. It is seen more and more often that young people are straying away from the standard TV news stations of their parent’s pasts. And are turning instead toward online platforms, such as Reddit, rather than traditional news outlets. They may not want to like the new media, but millennials are infatuated with it and using it to express their own opinions on hotly debated topics.
Young people do not hate the media. Students in high schools and across college campuses are continually on their phones. This is applicable whether they are building an online media presence for their professional life or scrolling through various social media feeds. The fact is, young people love the media. Millennials use media constantly, to checkin to locations on Facebook. To scroll through Instagram to like their friends’ photos, to send passive aggressive subtweets, to look up memes on Tumblr or document their wild night on their Snapchat stories.
The term media encompasses so much more than just the conventional news networks. Suggesting that young people hate the media simply because they are seen to distrust one form is such a narrow-minded idea. While USA Today’s article conclusions are completely believable, the tone in which it is presented is very misleading. Media is far more reaching and influential than the article leads readers to believe and can be defined as any form of communication. When it comes down to it, any form of communication is a form of news sharing.
The idea that young people or millennials dislike the media is based on the close-minded idea that what constitutes as media is a much smaller group than what really is a form of media. What USA Today should have said is that millennials are turning away from traditional TV and print news stations.
