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Carolina Cepeda
Professor Deborah Weaver
ENC 3315
21 April 2014
Information: Why Our Future Might Be Hanging By A String
Audience This paper is strictly directed to college students that lack
interest when it comes to obtaining basic information. Although it might
seem obvious for some, being informed is essential; however, some college
students believe that those who need to be up-to-date are those who are a
Political Science or International Relations Major. My main reason for this
paper is to let those students know that it doesnt matter your major or
interest, what matters is having an understanding of the outside world;
learn about other cultures, ideals, and systems.

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As an international student living in the United States, Ive created an
enormous amount of interest about different cultures and politics. Ive come
to realize that the importance I give to being up-to-date when it comes to
news is more than some of my fellow classmates do, mainly because they
havent emigrated from a completely different country, having to learn and
understand different societies. However, being uninformed can create
negative future prospects, and by having lack of informationwhether its
national or international, might be deteriorating the future leaders of the
world. Moreover, information is not only watching or reading the news,
information consists on having knowledge of other cultures as well.
I only care about living in a happy world, so I dont watch the news.
Those were the words expressed by one of my classmates when I asked her
if she thought the situation in Ukraine was devastating. I started thinking: I
wonder why theres so much disinterest about the outside wonderful
world we live in. For those who watch the news, we have an interest in the
international and national issues that affect our society whether its
political, societal, or in an economical matter. The news are no longer a oneplatform of communication, our generation has been lucky enough to now
have more options when it comes to finding information. However, the
different platforms can have a positive as well as a negative impact when it
comes to reports. So, my question for this argument is: Is it really that
important for students to be informed?
Modern day students have the resources to obtain information that
our parents didnt have. There are social media platforms like Twitter and
Facebook that provide a 24-hour service to the uninformed, and without

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leaving behind the television and radio; there is more access to have
current day knowledge than before. However, the excess amount of
information might be impacting how the youth lacks interest when it comes
to news, mainly because its so accessible, that the relevance is gone.
Karen Dunlap, editor at Poynter, states,
Some shifts raise questions about the amount and quality of news
consumed. All that leads to the crucial question of what people know
about major public issues.
Dunlap focuses on a very important point here; there is an increase in the
number of people, especially youth, that dont have an interest when it
comes to be informed about public issues. Quality of information is
deteriorating; the news has become an industry that has lost control of the
information that circulates outside their sources- for this, we now have the
platforms that include social media. Information comes in many shapes and
forms, and with our current way access information alternatives, we can
improve the quality of our information.
Ryan Holiday, contributor at Forbes, states,
I am a media manipulator. My job was to use the media to make
people do or think things they otherwise would not. People like me
are there, behind the curtain, pulling the puppet strings.
Holiday confirms, as his job is to write an attract an audience, that the main
objective of delivering media information, is to shape reality into a more
entertaining, amusing, and of course, dramatic form. This might be one of
the reasons why us, the youth, have portrayed information as a boring
tool, and would rather watch the dramatic reality show featuring actors

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that, in fact, brainwash our minds into becoming more superficial and less
knowledgeable. This might be one of the reasons why my classmate would
rather live in a happy world and not be informed with topics that might be
devastating and stressful. However, as students, we have to understand
how to face reality and understand why certain situations, such as
government corruption, riots, and even natural disasters happen and how to
overcome those tragedies.
The constant competition between who can obtain higher ratings,
who can get more followers on Twitter, and who can get to the story first, is
damaging the way we receive information. It has been seen in cases where
highly recognized news stations have lacked information and misled the
audience with inaccurate reports in order to release the story first. For
example, the tragic 2013 Boston Marathon bombing was, in fact, a victim of
the medias misleading and false reporting including CNN, Fox News, and
NBC. Sabrina Siddiqui, editor at The Huffington Post and in her article
Boston Bombings Reveal Media Full of Mistakes, False Reports, state
President Obamas outlook on how the media had behaved on the false
reporting:
In this age of instant reporting and tweets and blogs, there's a
temptation to latch on to any bit of information, sometimes to jump
to conclusions, Obama said in a statement after 19-year-old suspect
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured. But when a tragedy like this
happens it's important that we do this right.
Even though the reports we might receive might not be accurate, and to be
honest, it might not always be one hundred percent precise, these social

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media platforms provide us the advantage of examining different opinions
and perspectives, giving us the opportunity to create our own arguments
and our own knowledge on a topic. Like President Obamas concerns, all we
have to do as an audience is scrutinize different resources on the topic we
want to learn about, and not just rely on one single article.
Another reason why being informed is significant is the generation we
are in, Generation Y, known for having a massive amount of technology
access. More than being Generation Y, we are the future of our world. One
day, after graduation, we will find jobs and become professionals. Some of
my classmates will probably become the future CEO of a multinational
company, or the future Republican or Democrat candidate in a political
party. But, where would those future businessmen and women be at without
having read the newspaper, watch the news, go on Twitter or Facebook and
seek for information, or even read a book?
Yvon Chouinard, founder and former CEO of Patagonia Inc., dedicated his
life into expanding his eco-friendly company. Besides being a businessman,
he is also a writer and former climber. During his young days, Chouinard
traveled around Europe and South America in order to explore the splendor
of the mountains he wanted to climb. Patagonia is located in Argentina,
South America, and Chouinard, surprised by its beauty, named his company
as the South American region. Patagonia now has retailers across the globe,
including North and South America and Europe.
Theres many other CEOs like Yvon Chouinard to come, possibly having his
ideology of having knowledge of other cultures and societies; exploring
inspired him to open his own successful and global business.

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Going back to my original question, yes, students need to be
informed. Although this statement might seem obvious for some, the
amount of college students that dont pay enough attention to the outside
world is devastating. As proper citizens, we have to rely on what reports say
about national and international issues. We base our main decisions on
what reports tell us will happen. In order to become the best citizens we can
be, and be able to help our community to prosper, we have to be informed.
I have always lived by philosopher Francis Bacons quote, Knowledge is
power, and power will provide us triumph in our future endeavors.

Holiday, Ryan. "What is Media Manipulation?--A Definition and

Explanation." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 16 July 2012. Web. .
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanholiday/2012/07/16/what-is-mediamanipulation-a-definition-and-explanation>.
Siddiqui, Sabrina. "Boston Bombings Reveal Media Full Of Mistakes, False
Reports (VIDEO)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 Apr.
2013. Web. . <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/bostonbombings-media-mistakes_n_3135105.html>.
Dunlap, Karen. "How well-informed are citizens, and how are they getting
their news? | Poynter.." Poynter. N.p., 6 Sept. 2013. Web. .
<http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/222997/how-well-informedare-citizens-and-how-are-they-getting-their-news/>.
"Patagonia Company Info: Jobs - Director, US Retail Stores." Patagonia
Company Info: Jobs - Director, US Retail Stores. N.p., n.d. Web. .
<http://www.patagonia.com/us/patagonia.go?assetid=94679>.

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