News Sources

Location makes all the difference. This is what I have noticed as far as the sources of news that we receive. Of course the atmosphere that we are surrounded by will always influence us in many different ways, but this also includes how informed we keep ourselves. In general, many people have commented on how up-to-date they used to be prior to coming to college and how their current habits, as far as keeping up with the latest in the world, are lacking as opposed to before. Before, when you came home and sat down on the couch if your parents were watching PBS Newshour there was a choice, to sit on the couch and watch with them or get up and start the nightly homework. Now in college, classes go later and there never seems to be anytime to even turn on the tv. If the habits of people around you are to keep up with the latest in the world you are more inclined to do so as well.

In a sense the same goes for literacy. If those around you are illiterate and do not have a regular habit of reading and writing you are less inclined to do so yourself. I think this is one of Hedges main points when he points out that “[n]early a third of the nation’s population is illiterate or barely literate” (Hedges 1). Stating growing fear that not only are many people illiterate but this is a growing trend that is spreading. While, I do think Hedges is a bit dramatic in his article, his points are valid and show that environments which literacy or news sources are absent the individual tends with the setting that they are surrounded by.