There is a question at Guilford of whether or not students read the news on a regular basis. It is said that students live in a bubble here on the campus, and that they are not conscious of current affairs. While many students do not read the news every day or on a consistent basis, plenty try to keep up with world affairs.

On campus, many students are knowledgeable about both domestic and world affairs, or at least have some idea of what’s going on outside. For example, an R.A. in Bryan sent out an email about a current event – Rush Limbaugh brought up the segregation of buses, and she thought awareness of this issue should be raised.

Most people I have talked to do read the news, but they do not read physical newspapers. These students do not dislike newspapers; they would rather get their news online, because it is more convenient.

Many students’ Internet homepages contain news stories. “I have the news saved as my homepage,” said sophomore Jonathan Shine. He checks the news at least once a day because it is right there on the screen.

Sophomore Patrick Hyland said he looks at the news every day on bbc.com. “On Firefox it is saved on my bookmark bar,” said Hyland. When asked if he thought students read the news he said “they are aware of current events.”

The Internet’s popularity has lessened the presence of newspapers on campus. “I think a lot of people check online. I don’t think anybody buys the paper,” said senior Allison Farnham.

Despite the immediate availability of news online, some people still get caught in the bubble. Farnham admits that sometimes she gets stuck in the bubble and doesn’t check the news for days.

The bubble can consume the best of us, and make us think there is nothing going on outside of campus. By and large, students here do a good job of realizing that there are things going on outside of campus.

All of this may be surprising because a lot of adults do not read the news. This fact is a positive for Guilford because the student body is so aware of what is going on in the world.

If reading the news is hard for you, consider setting a news site as your homepage, and then it will be easy to stay informed. Everyone needs to remember that there are always things going on outside of campus, and checking cnn.com every so often is never a bad idea.