Informed Society

Today’s world revolves around information. How often have you heard the phrase “Information is king?” We are taught from a very young age that knowledge is power and information is the key to success. Our current generation has grown up with pathways to information no generation before it had ever dreamed of. We have the information superhighway, 24 hour news via cable television and online, portable devices keeping us plugged into society everywhere we go, and we have e-books and online newspapers at our disposal. Information is constantly at our very fingertips. We no longer have to painstakingly search out information in some decrepit storage room at a library or news archive. Microfiche, does anyone even know what that means today? Isn’t everything burned on CD or DVD or archived online? Digging through old photographs isn’t necessary anymore when you can just search through digitized copies. Information is king and it has never been easier to acquire. All it takes is time and effort to assimilate the many facets of information flow to become knowledgeable, about almost anything.

Given the ability to easily obtain information, shouldn’t our society actually be well informed? Common sense would of course say yes, but are we? Are we actually utilizing the tools we have been given to become an informed citizen? The Internet has been widely available now for almost 20 years, cable television has been around for over 30 years, and CNN was established in 1980. Some of the tools have been around for 30 plus years. Our 2006 United States census data reports that over 50% of our nation’s 300 million citizens are age 39 or less. But, let’s give some credit to some of the older folk for being adept enough to learn new technology. Moving on up to 59 and younger, the percentage becomes almost 83%. To be safe, we’ll throw out the 14 and under group so that gives us a percentage of about 63% of Americans between the age of 15 and 59. Almost two-thirds of our society has had access and the ability to effectively utilize the new informational tools within our grasp.

Now that we have some concrete information to apply our common sense methodology to, we should expect to see an acceptable percentage reflecting an informed society shouldn’t we? Well, common sense is usually right, but we must never underestimate the apathy of our society. Recent surveys and reports display some alarming traits regarding how “informed” our society actually is. Since we are in the midst of a Presidential election campaign, we’ll focus on politics. A recent survey, done every two years recently released their latest results determining where people get their news and how much they are informed. The survey asked three simple questions, “Identify the party controlling Congress (Democratic Party), identify who the Secretary of State is (Condoleezza Rice), and identify the new Prime Minister of Great Britain (Gordon Brown).” I know, not everyone is intricately involved with politics, but these three questions aren’t like asking who the vice president of our 14^th President was.

The national average for their study resulted in an astounding 18% correct… yes, only 18%. The Colbert Report and The Daily Show, two political COMEDY programs, came in at 34% and 30% correct. Daily newspapers came in at a very unrespectable 22% while CNN respondents beat the national average by a whopping 1%, reaching 19% on the informed meter. What does this exactly say about our society? Are we informed at all? Does society now, with the ability to gain knowledge easier than any society or generation before us, use the tools available to us or do we simply plod along, with very little knowledge relating to our world? The survey seems to suggest that the vast majority of Americans fail to utilize the tools given to us and are simply moving along, quite happily, without knowing much. 18%, seriously… On top of that, two comedy shows obliterate several serious news avenues?

Another survey displays similarly alarming trends regarding news and information our society is receiving. This particular study reported 19% of people are “going newsless.” That percentage is up 5% since 2008. That is a trend very much proceeding in the wrong direction. Also within the report, newspaper readership has declined by 24% since 1993 including a drop of 13% since 2000. Radio, local network news, and nightly news have shown similar declines. Online news readership has increased from 2% to 37% in the meantime. However, don’t get too excited, the reports says that online gains are being outpaced by the declines in print readership so there is actually a net loss of about 3%. Digging into the demographics of the report, it shows the younger generations are going “newsless.” Between 1998 and 2008, the age group 18-24 saw a 9% increase in “newsless” responders. The age group 25-29 increased by 4% and 30-34 by 7%. The very people being raised with every information tool imaginable are choosing NOT to use them. We wonder why the national average above was only 18%…

Our society has long been characterized by apathy. Not only concerning voting habits, but every single life habit. We have become a society that has become satisfied in our current position. We are not effectively utilizing the greatest tools we have ever known to advance our knowledge and position. Our nation has become a society of settlers. Everyone likes to tout the idea that America is number one, but is anyone putting any action behind that sentiment? A few do and they succeed with hard work and determination. The rest of us seem to be complacent and willing to ride the coattails of those who drive our nation forward. The amount of coattails to ride is decreasing rapidly. Without individuals pushing our country forward, we will continue to stagnate and become more apathetic until everyone pays the price. These surveys are just a few sets of data displaying our country’s apathy. We must turn the tide and begin to use the tools available to us to move our country forward. Information is king and it is the key to success but if we do not use the tools, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Citation: Pew Survey on News Consumption & Government Census Data & http://people-press.org/