By Christian Cullen, Staff Writer

Follow me into the distant past of last week. What were the main and major news stories a week ago? It may have taken you a bit to come up with an answer. You are likely not alone.

The news cycle nowadays moves at a frantic pace. Each day, there is another major story. This is not just within politics, although that is the most salient example. Everyday there is a new pop culture story, a massive trade in the sports world to talk about or a big economics piece that just got published.

In a sense, this article is not meant to undo or change the way we do the news nowadays, but to encourage people to innovate ways to cope with a fast-moving world. 

This is even true here at Xavier. For people who have been here for a while, remember how much coverage there was about the Joe Deters appointment? What about the arrests at commencement last year? It seems incredibly easy to forget about major news stories. We have become so accustomed to the latest event and the latest scandal, that our ability to take in and retain information has been harmed.

When the news moves at such a quick pace, there are four important outcomes. 

Firstly, it harms our ability to adequately respond to whatever news may have come out. Once again, politics is the salient example here. If enough major world events happen close enough to each other, our ability to focus on the issues and topics before us is lessened.

Secondly, our attention span suffers. There have been many studies connecting apps like TikTok and Instagram to a decrease in people’s attention spans. I will not discount those. But I do think some attention should be paid to the fact that our lives, separate from the doom scrolling app of your choice, are always moving at an insane pace.

Thirdly, a quick-moving news cycle can numb us to important and potentially life-changing stories because it seems that every breaking news update is potentially life-changing. But if they are all, then none of them really are. It is easy to shrug off whatever the major story of the day is because you know that there will be a new one tomorrow.

Lastly, it is pretty easy to fall into a sense of despair. If there are two-to-three massive political stories per day, a natural outcome is to get disheartened about the state of the world. And honestly, in these strange times, this is understandable. It is partly fed by a ravenous and never ending-cycle, with a different story being the topic of the day, as yesterday’s is long forgotten.

This may be a part of our modern world and connected life. Ultimately, news channels need eyes on the screen. There is an incentive in creating a 24 hour news cycle; it is easier to maintain and retain your audience if they are always watching, waiting for that next big story.        

It is a difficult position to be in. On one hand, the recognition that the news cycle can be harmful is good, but it is also important to be informed. I do dislike where the news cycle is these days, but also recognize that this just may be the situation moving forward.