Opinion: News Literacy and Today’s Youth

By Bryn Macias
Editor-In-Chief | The Pacific Times

Today, there is a serious lack of news literacy skills among teenagers and young adults that leads them to be uninformed citizens. This is damaging to our society because when people lack the skills necessary to think critically about the news they are consuming, it can lead them to make uninformed decisions that will affect everyone. This is especially true for young people, because they are the generation that will grow up facing the consequences of these decisions.

Though the issue is complex, it is clear that young Americans’ lack of interest in news directly impacts their lack of news literacy skills. Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 have consistently made up the age group that pays the least attention to local news in the past nine years, according to the Pew Research Center’s study on how much Americans pay attention to local news. As a result, teenagers often cannot decipher between the different information types they read online, found a News Literacy Project survey of teens in 2024. This lack of interest in news and knowledge about different kinds of news only exacerbates the problems that arise when citizens in a society are uninformed.

People who are uninformed on local and national news are at risk of making decisions when voting that they do not actually agree with, or that are not in their best interest. This is because they may not fully understand what they are voting on, due to looking at unreliable or biased news sources. Ultimately, young peoples’ lack of news literacy skills can harm them and their futures if they do not have a complete understanding of the issues facing their society.

Though there is no one sure-fire way to solve the lack of news literacy skills among young people, an easy way to combat it is to regularly read local and national news from a variety of sources. By familiarizing oneself with news of different types, it is easier to build the skills that help to think critically about the media you are consuming.

Everyone should be working to build upon their news literacy skills, especially young people, so they can be informed citizens and voters who can make the right decisions for themselves.