In a world that’s more quickly and easily interconnected than ever before, it’s hard to avoid hearing about major events and topics in the news.

For starters, it seems that there are almost more screens reporting the world’s latest events than there are eyes to watch them.  In addition, since news reports and updates are so easily accessible, it’s difficult to avoid the casual question of “what do you think about the latest?”

Who can say, with absolute certainty, that this interconnectedness has only positive or only negative consequences?  Many would call it a necessary step toward bringing the truth to the common person, while others would retort with the question, “What if I don’t care about what’s going on in the world?”  And, of course, many others would fall somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.

After following the reporting that accompanied the recent events in Ferguson, I had a drastic shift in mindset when it comes to the role that the media plays in the average American life.

And, to be perfectly clear, I’m not talking about the choice that some newscasters make in publicizing certain aspects of events more than others, even though this notion has been a point of great controversy lately.  Instead, I’m referring to the general role that the news media plays in modern society.

Most would agree that people should only follow a story in the news if, whether physically, emotionally or spiritually, it affects them in some noticeable way.

I used to be the kind of person that only cared about the here and the now.  Not only did I neglect that distant world events would ever have a significant impact on my daily life, but the events that I chose to follow in the Clayton community were very limited in scope.

In other words, I had misinterpreted the idea that, in order for it to be a worthwhile following, the event of interest had to affect me in some way.  I didn’t realize that what was important to all members of the community was inherently important to me as well.

But my beliefs are much different now, and although I didn’t come to realize it until a major event and rising social tension took place so close to home, my change in perspective had been waiting to occur for quite some time.

People can choose to filter out major happenings of the surrounding world for as long as they like.  In fact, any person can choose to live his or her entire life neglecting social phenomena that, to most members of society, deserve a great deal of attention.

It isn’t the law to follow world events, which means that lawmakers don’t see a person’s choice not to keep up with the latest happenings as a threat to the common good.  But society’s never going to stop progressing.  As long as the cogs in our brains are working, new ideas and methods of communicating these ideas are going to flourish.

It’s important to remember, when you make the daily choice of whether or not to read and listen about what’s happening in the surrounding world, that unless you make an effort to keep up with society, society’s not going to make an effort to keep up with you.

Although it might catch their attention on occasion, people aren’t going to police you into opening the news notifications you get on your phone or listening to NPR in the car every morning.  But, as is true of many things in life, choosing not to concern yourself even slightly with the phenomena that most other people follow closely will ultimately hurt you more than anyone else.