With online interest growing in leaps and bounds, and with easy access to smart phones, teenagers tell us if they are 'news-sensitive'
If you are a teenager and you are reading this, you're probably thinking about the time your father may have nudged you to read the newspaper- EVERYDAY! While we are a country which is diverse in culture and rich in tradition, we are also different when it comes to our taste for news as teenagers. Trying to keep things light hearted, there may be some who are a little too casual about it and others who believe that a newspaper is the first thing they would love to wake up to in the morning.
The dynamics though have altered, with smartphones flooding us with news updates even before we bat our eyelid. This evokes a pertinent question— Are teens in India still sensitive to news? Or are we adapting, evolving and changing with technology, being oblivious to the events occurring around us? We spoke to a few and came up with a platter of mixed responses:
For political news enthusiasts like Abhinav Shankar Raman, a 17-year-old student, studying at the Bombay Scottish School, Mumbai, reading the newspaper is not just an act of hereditary ritual. "I read the newspaper and discuss foreign policies of different nations with my friends. It gives me an understanding of where our country is headed".
And for sports fans like Praveen Sriram, a 19-year-old student of IIT Bombay, "I am not interested in politics. But I do like sports and I get major information on sports from the papers".
While, teenagers are free to pick and choose the news they like, there are others who have an opinion on the medium they'd opt for.
Aarti Khanna, an 18-year-old student from Delhi says, "I prefer reading news on an application than on paper or television, as it provides me constant updates. Also, news reports on television are sometimes exaggerated upon, which is a put-off."
Sanika R, a 17-year-old student from Mumbai echoed her thoughts. "I do not read the newspaper at all, I prefer reading something more positive, I believe that news does not have a direct effect on my life and let us be true to ourselves, when people read the paper, it's just bad news". While such an argument may not easily go down with many, the question is – if ignorance is bliss, how are they going to be informed about making appropriate electoral choices?
According to Abhishek Chadha, a 19-year-old student from Kirori Mal College in Delhi, "Reading a newspaper on a daily basis makes a person aware of his surroundings, but taking a decision to vote for a particular person or party depends on one's understanding on a subject and one's analytical skills. If a report filed by a journalist is biased, the person reading it is likely to believe what's written and the bias stays."
Today, ignoring daily news is becoming less of an option, because it is omnipresent — social media posts, news updates, mobile apps, and alerts etc. "Ignorance in any form can have dangerous consequences, some direct and others indirect. Therefore it is better if we keep ourselves informed," says Abhishek.
Reading a newspaper or being updated is considered a democratic responsibility, and the fact remains that the country's future lies in the hands of the young. With all not being lost, voices must be heard, and the teens of the country must participate, if positive change is to be seen in India.
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