As world crises occur, Americans’ attention spans shorten
Don Handshy
– Staff Writer –
The world seems like such a small place. Long gone are the days when traveling across the ocean seemed like a daunting task, as well as the days when the Internet was a far-fetched sci-fi dream. Fast forward to today when millions of people around the globe witnessed a country revolt against their government via Twitter.
So why, then, are we as disconnected as ever?
Look no further than our attention spans, or more specifically, our selfish lack thereof.
How many of us stopped paying attention to Egypt once the Egyptian people had won their freedom? On Feb. 11, the very same day that former President Hosni Mubarak stepped down from power, a female correspondent for CBS was beaten and raped by an angry Egyptian mob. This event received little media coverage and garnered even less public response.
So if we aren’t paying attention to this, what are we paying attention to?
Maybe we’re paying too much attention to the less important things, like Justin Bieber getting “snubbed” at the Grammys, or Lindsey Lohan’s latest court appearance. Charlie Sheen dominates the news lately, which pushes out stories about the struggles in Libya, the upcoming federal budget changes that will impact Americans across the country, and even the recent deaths of four young servicemen in Afghanistan on Feb. 27 and 28. For some reason, we don’t really focus on those issues as much as we could.
We live in extraordinary times that deserve greater attention. Governments are crumbling in the Middle East, America’s government struggles with securing our future. People desperately cling to their jobs while looking for secondary employment, yet we focus more on celebrity drama.
American culture has always been fascinated more by entertainment rather than education and politics. Take a look at CNN’s website for example. Make special note of the kind of stories available on the U.S. edition. Now, switch to the International edition.
There is a stark contrast in coverage between the two, where world events that affect our livelihood receive significantly more coverage internationally than useless celebrity drama does.
We owe it to ourselves as college students and as parents to be more aware and better informed.
If every person made it a point to watch a news program or read a newspaper for as long as our favorite TV show lasts, we would find that we could be better connected to the world. What happens here and abroad can impact our lives significantly.
Whatever needs to be done, now is the time to do it. Revolution spurs revolution.
When the world is faced with revolution, why not create a new, individualized world?
