While we progress further and further into our own future, it’s easy to set the present day aside.

As members of the human race, a crime we’re typically notorious for committing is looking at life through the rear view mirror. 

But what if it wasn’t supposed to be this way?

One of the most famous lines in movie history comes from the 1986 blockbuster “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and reads “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Now, more than ever, it’s important for everyone to pay attention to their surroundings as political outrage, prominent moves in global technology industries and local tragedy continue to dominate modern day news outlets.

Just recently, local news headlines flooded with the news of Hailey Buzbee’s death, who was a student at Hamilton Southeastern. She was lured into a car by someone she met online, and almost a month later, she was discovered to be deceased.

Buzbee’s story serves as a cautionary tale to the dangers of communicating with strangers in today’s world, but only to those who are willing to listen.

Social media has come to replace many forms of communication and has revolutionized a new era of news consumption. 

Stagwell Global states that “84% of young people get their news from social media,” which in turn caused a beyond dramatic decrease in traditional news outlets, like newspapers or television broadcasts, considering that mainstream social media platforms didn’t become “popular” until the mid 2000s.

Like anything, media consumption can definitely present its own drawbacks when taken in large doses, but it also can be used for good.

Many accounts exist on social media to inform the public about everything going on in the world, and whether it be topics relating to political incongruity, economic changes or even pop culture, they exist for the sole purpose of education.

It should be of the utmost importance to everyone to not only seek out knowledge in their daily lives, but also to seek out knowledge in the world that surrounds them, and social media is one of the best ways to accomplish this goal. 

So next time you find yourself aimlessly scrolling through TikTok or Instagram, do yourself a favor and try to search for some sort of news to better understand the world around you. After all, this planet is our home, and it is what we make it.