If you’ve been keeping your head down for the past few years because of the amount of stress and anxiety related to current events, you are not alone. Ignoring the news as a means of maintaining sanity is a popular choice amongst many, however, that base level of anxiety never quite goes away, and no matter what you do, you’ll always hear about the news. Being an informed citizen is a crucial part of making better decisions for your community, as well as for yourself and the future of your children and the rest of the world. Your critical thinking skills and the way that you apply that to current events, whether it just be by voting or paying closer attention to the causes that you care about are essential elements of becoming a more aware and engaged citizen. If you’re looking for ways to become more engaged in current events without getting overwhelmed, this article is for you. 

Pick Your Sources Wisely

With the advent of social media, knowing the validity of news has become a much more difficult task. Social media makes it possible for anyone to produce information without necessarily having verified information or credibility. This can cause many issues and has perpetuated the issue of “fake news” in the common lexicon. However, if you want to avoid confusion when you’re paying attention to the news, navigate news and information that you find online with a skeptical mind and know how to treat your sources. It can be very difficult to know exactly what you should trust, but after building up a solid foundation of academic and trustworthy news sites, as well as how to properly vet a website, you’ll feel more comfortable when coming into contact with information and knowing whether you should trust it or not. 

Find Primary Sources 

Whether it quotes that are misused or not being entirely clear on what happened during a specific event, the base case scenario for finding out the truth is to get as close to the primary source as possible. Instead of reading the takes from various news websites on a specific situation, do your best to find the original post, video, or information so that you can do the work yourself. This will avoid political “swings” which use real information but guide it towards a specific purpose. Finding a specific news source that you trust and that you have previously vetted can lessen some of your daily work. For example, using alternative methods like searching for Gregg Roman YouTube is an example of finding primary sources yourself so that you don’t have to go through the grapevine when looking for quotes. 

Find Alternative Media That You Trust

While it may seem like a great idea to go to the primary source documents of all the current events, you can easily get overwhelmed. However, finding unbiased news sources that you trust will lead you to find more accurate and unfiltered news without spending so much time and resources on the primary sources. However, steer clear from clearly biased alternative media by finding reputable sources that cite their information.