How do young people get their news?

Evie Forbes, a Year 13 student at Omagh Academy, has spent this week on work experience at the Ulster Herald. There is much debate within the media industry around how young people access their news and information, so we asked Evie to write about this. 

How do young people read the news?

In an ever-growing society of new technology and the rapid rise of social media, young people today are becoming increasingly more reliant on online sources to remain informed.

When asking people my age how they receive their news, I can’t say I was overly shocked when no one said reading the newspaper. The overarching answer was, as expected, social media.

As a member of “Gen Z” myself, I’ll be the first to admit that that I gain most of my news from apps such as TikTok or Instagram.

The short form content style of TikTok and the never-ending sea of information available on Instagram provides easy access to trending topics or breaking news stories in brief and understandable summaries. The accessibility of social media as a source of news appeals to younger generations far more than reading the newspaper.

Not only is a huge reason for Gen Z’s reliance on social media due to the accessibility, but the instant updates available make it a much quicker way of staying informed.

If a major event takes place, it’ll be trending on Twitter in a matter of minutes, allowing social media platforms to provide a much quicker update on stories than other sources.

So, is the younger generations reliance on social media as a news source simply due to our lack of patience?

Do we rely on instant updates and rapid short-form content to remain interested in current events thanks to our dwindling attention span?

Not entirely.

Although it does sound like this reliance on social media to provide us with our news is due to our impatience and our rapidly shortening attention spans, it is in many ways simply an easier way for young people to access the news.

While we enter an era where physical copies of books are slowly being replaced by Kindles and E-Readers, it makes sense that a similar pattern is emerging within other forms of media such as the news.

I’m not implying we need to eliminate traditional methods of publishing news. Newspapers and news channels are still incredibly important in keeping the public informed.

However, the significant role social media is playing in providing young people with news should not be understated, and as more and more news outlets build an online platform, it becomes a much more reliable and accessible way of staying informed.

As we enter a more digital age, so should our news.