There’s just so much information in the world, everything from hilariously vapid to horrifically awful to fantastically inspirational, making it easy to feel bogged down by the sheer volume (and width and breadth, for that matter) of what exists outside of a person’s own thoughts, worries and desires. However, it’s incredibly important to stay abreast of current events! As a young woman who’s probably going to be living in the world for the next 70 years or so, I find myself particularly interested in issues that relate to my interests and future. If there’s an asshole making up science about my body, or if a woman is making history in the NFL, I want to know about it. The more media and news I consume, the more I find that nearly everything is relevant to me and my place in the world.

Are you one of us who feels like you could brush up on news and current events? Take your pick from this list of suggestions and you’ll never be out of the loop!

TV & Radio

-      The Colbert Report/The Daily Show with Jon Stewart; satirical, left-leaning news highlight shows that broadcast Monday through Thursday (available on hulu.com)
-      Talk radio; there are numerous radio stations with numerous political perspectives, and along with different shows come different formats (hour-long interviews, news briefs at the top of the hour, et al)

Podcasts

-      Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!; weekly NPR news quiz show (available streaming or podcast)
-      Democracy Now!; near-daily headlines and stories

Email Alerts

-      Nearly all news sites and servers (CNN, NYTimes, BBC, et al) give email alerts and updates. Often, these can be customized for both news type and frequency.

Smartphone Apps

-      CNN (complete with breaking news alerts)
-      Associated Press
-      BBC and The Guardian for those of you in the UK

Websites

-      AlJazeera.com (unbiased, uncensored articles, interviews and video)
-      BBC.com
-      NPR.org
-      Wall Street Journal
-      Fark.com; something of a news conglomerate, gathering relevant, wacky, and weird stories from across the internet

Now you have the tools (indeed, you may have had them all along) and you know where to find the news, but not everyone has the time to sit and read a newspaper or browse a website for hours on end. I find the best way to keep myself informed about current events and stay on top of my everyday responsibilities is to multitask. Isn’t that what we millennials are supposedly so great at? Stream a radio station while you get ready in the morning. Listen to a podcast on the way to work or school. Watch a show while you do dishes. Sign up for a daily email update. I’ll sometimes find myself spurred to look up a topic just because I overheard a bit of a stranger’s phone conversation!

There’s no downside to being well-informed, so take whatever interests you and run with it!

How do you keep up with the news? Share with us in the comments!

Written by Rose Shapiro