As an MSU student today I feel like I live in a bubble, and I have said this for the past three years. I feel a lot less like this living in a house than in the dorms but my freshman year I remember thinking, I have no idea what is going on in the outside world, outside of MSU. My mom would call me with news of natural disasters and terrorist threats and I would have no idea what she was referring to. As a young student I had no interest in watching the news and at the time I didn't have a twitter account. Now I seem to only know what is going on becuase of my friends status updates, and Twitter. It is a painful thing to admit such ignorance about the world around me, but of the friends I have talked to they seem to get their news the same way. The state of the world seems to be getting crazier and crazier and though many may argue that this is the way it has always been I can't help but think that it is happening at a far more accelerated rate than it used to.

The state of the world is never quiet and stable in any other way. History taught us that human being are always dealing with various issues in order to meet either expectations or achievements. It is important to have some faith and hoping that all of the kaos will be solved as long as we stay calm and show sympathy. As a MSU student, I don't avoid news either tragedies or disasters. It is imporatnt to especally open our eyes and look at the world. Once we got bad news and information, evaluating our efforts and try our best to contribuate the society. 

I avoid the news at all costs as well. With the new media, though, it is impossible to stay completely away. People are always posting news stories and talking about them, especially on Twitter. As for the state of our world, I think things could get very interesting from here forward. Maybe it's just because i'm older now, but there is a lot of things going on as of late that I dont agree with. The US getting involved in another war is extremely devastating for me as a citizen. It feels like we are always going to be at war, I just wish we could get the troops out. Then you have things like Charlie Sheen and Lindsey Lohan, which don't even deserve a mention from me. Overall, I think there are a lot of things in this world to be embarressed about. That being said, we need to try and move forward and help places like Japan out when they are in times of need.  

Personally I hate the news, but I do try to stay up to date on important bigger things that are happening in the world.  Im not the type to spend hours reading about stories on any web site, including social media.  When I am looking for information I watch the news or use google mainly.  I think it is important to be involved in social media sites, like twitter, but I am against the thought that you should find out everything from it.  I think there is a lot of time wasted being caught up in everyone elses thoughts.  We have our own thoughts and concerns and I think that in way social media makes topics of all sorts much closer and more available to those who arent even that involved.  Like I said, its important to stay in with the times, but there is not enough time to enjoy life if your too caught up in the internet world.

I think it is an intense question to try an answer what our views are on the state of the world in a blog post. I mean to answer such a question would take not only multiple pages but probably even multiple books. There have been improvements over time and at that same time, of course we have swayed away from morals and destroyed things.

To relate it to this class I think it is interesting that on so many different topics stated above it can be legitmately assumed that we found them all out through social media. I just created my twitter account this semester for this class. The first few days I hated it but now I am addicted to it, I get the majority of my news through twitter and then choose whether or not to follow up with further articles. I find it intriguing that everything listed above I found out about on Twitter. I think it is amazing that years ago an airplane made the world smaller and now social media is compacting it even further. Living in the age of technological advancements can be just as scary as it is exciting.

I actually just went to a speech for my isp class where the speeker was talking about protecting the world from asteroids.  Seems unrelated, but it just made me think of the world in general and lack of preparation for things like this.  Hurricane Katrina was a good example where we HAVE the technology to prevent a hurricane like that from doing as much damage as it did, but we didn't think to prepare for that until it had already happened and was too late.  Now the same thing for the Earthquake... we never expected an earthquake of that intensity, so a game plan was never thought up for protecting the world from this.  Now that it is too late, ideas are being tossed out on how things couldve been better planned out.

I do not by any means think the world is coming to an end any time soon but its just an interesting way to go about things.  Social media does help the situation though when world can spread about disasters like this as fast as they do that way help can be there as soon as possible.

As a Korean who used to live in Seoul where is only 300 miles away from Japan, I was really shocked and astonished to hear all the tragic events occurred in Japan. I heard what happened in Japan first time through Twitter. One Japanese "twitted" lively what was happening in Japan and I felt really sorry and frustrated that I could not help them. Twitter once again showed its powerful advantage; delivering and spreading out what is happening in the world in a second. However, it also made me to feel frustrated that I could not do anything for them. I hope no more trgic events would occur in Japan.

Yeah, all this shit that's happening on Earth right now is pretty messed up. I don't get any of my news from Twitter, mainly the tv or radio, honestly. I think as MSU students we  are either highly involved and knowledgeable or just the opposite. Personally I was aware of the recent events in Japan, locally I've heard of Gov. Snyder, and more about war recently. I was on the tail end of knowing about Nate Dog's death. Sad.

I think its inevitable to get news from the internet regardless of where on the internet people get it from. Even if CNN had a loop of all the news of the day it wouldn't be worth watching everything to find the one thing you're actually interested in.

Social media certainly plays a vital role in displaying the news for numerous people. For students, this is a primary source because there is a large span of time that we are on these social media sites. I have been noticing a ton of information rolling through Facebook and Twitter about Japan. I often find YouTube videos being posted showing the events that occured in the past week. Along with the sites, I have seen location based apps like Living Social that is offering donations of $10 to Japan Relief for only $5. The world is certainly changing but so are our forms of receiving and interpreting the news.

I do get most of my news from Twitter. I look through recent tweets and if something looks interesting or pertains to me I'll look into it deeper. "Me, I'm the kind of person who likes to avoid the news," I completely agree, until now. I never watched the news or seeked out news on the internet but now that I'm involved with Twitter, I find myself very concerned with the world today. Twitter and Facebook, along with all social media makes it hard for me and everyone to NOT notice what is going on in the Middle East and Japan.

To be completely honest I am not that great with keeping up on the daily news.  I don't read the news paper or visit online news websites very often...  BUT, I feel like I am constantly updated with news around the world via social media sites.  When something big happens like the tsunami that hit Japan, it comes up all over sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Once I see something constantly popping up on those sites, I then further search the issue on news sites.  For this reason I feel that social media plays a huge role in how people get their news today.  It only takes one person to say something about it, and the news will spread like wild fire through social media outlets.  Hopefully people can start using their social media to spread positive news as well!

It was terrible to hear that Japan and some of Middle East news. Major tsunami hits Japan, and it resulted in over 20,000 people's dead. I cannot believe how our nature has strong power. We cannot overlook the message what the earth is sending to humanbeing. All over the world are trying to help Japan, Libya as well as other nations who are in the problem. Financial, food and beverage, medical support and all sort of aid and support are performing now. We can give a hand via NGO or other types of help, but also we can express our deep sorrow via Twitter as well as various new social media sites. Some of web sites are promoting people's help via thier web sites too, thus we can donate money, clothes, or food to the sites.  

I get my news either from the Today show, my guests at work, or my boyfriend (he loves the news and weather). I suppose how social media plays a role is because many people do only get news from others on social networking sites, like twitter. It kind of makes more of the madness with things like Charlie Sheen, and is good for raising money and support for things like the tsunami. I don't know if it is that there is so much more going on right now than before, or if it is more that everyone is so much more interconnected through more means with the internet and social networking. News spreads faster and gets bigger.

While I'm definitely guilty of spending too much time on my computer, I have a hard time reading the news thoroughly. I love Twitter because I can follow a variety of news sources and get a brief overview of the headlines quickly. Twitter has definitely helped me stay on top of current events. Reading about current events can be depressing, especially as a student who is about to enter the "real world," but I think it's important to stay informed.

I don't believe that we are going into another war with Libya. There was four U.S. journalists that had entered the rebel-controlled eastern region of Libya over the Egyptian border without visas to cover the insurrection against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. They were detained by forces loyal to Colonel Qaddafi in Ajdabiya. They were recently released and I don't believe that if we were going into another war that Libya would release these journalists.

As for Japan, I feel terrible because there is more than 21,000 that are dead or missing. There have been articles stating that there is no way that they can have a proper burial for these people. This was a devastating incident that occurred and I think that since people won't be able to have a ceremony for their loved ones will make it harder for them to dead with their death. As if it isn't going to be hard enough moving on with their lives they have to deal with smoke coming out of the reactors No. 2 and No. 3. CNN also states, "The crisis has still not been resolved, and the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains very serious," Yukiya Amano, the director-general of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, told its board of governors Monday after a visit to the site."

After reading CNN, I found an article called Gotta Watch: Why We're Tweeting 5 years later... It had stated, "Whether you like it or not, celebrities are also harnessing the power of Twitter and if anyone knows the power of Twitter, it's Charlie Sheen. He set the Guinness World Record for gaining the most Twitter followers in a single day. A million followers? That's so early March. He's now surpassed 3 million." It was an interesting article and I thought I would share it with who ever wanted to read it.

People all around the world have spent kind of hard time in this year, 2011, with many terrible disasters and environmental and political issues. As we know, Many Middle East countries protested and are still fighting for revolution and thier rights, and a couple of weeks ago, we saw a terrible magnitude 9.0 earthquake happened in Japan, which has brought over 20,000 death and missing people with a possible nuclear radiation crisis by the distruction of reators. Furthermore, a couple of days ago, I hear about 'super moon' which was said an evidence of Dooms day. This yaer, I can be exposed by all of those kinds of global isssues followed by some bad rumors through mass media and social media. I actually do not want to be a part of that. Unfortunate disasters could happen all over the world, and they have occurred for a very long time, which means those are definitely not the sign of the end of our planet. We just have access to the news happening over the world through social media, and what we are supposed to do is praying and helping them (at this time, such as, people in Libia and Japan) by sending messages and aids with social media. As you said, we can just do our best for our family, friends, and work for every minute.    

I as well, am the kind of person that likes to avoid the news because theres never any good news. If you go to CNN.com right now I'm almost certain that 95% of the news is negative. The state of our world correlates with this. Our world is in shambles and it has been for years. Our leaders seem powerless in the fight against our human possibilities. If you argue that our leaders are doing whats necessary to make our world the one we all dream of then one, you are in a dreamworld, and two, if our leaders are doing a good job, the human race as a whole is not. I mean, we continue to increase global warming with our poor treatment of our world and I see no end in site (possible cause of the Tsunami in Japan.) The US getting into another war I feel is justified because we're helping out our allies of the UN so I suppose we could chalk that up to occupational hazard. As far as Charlie Sheen goes, I'm behind him. The network cuts their most successful show before the actor's contracts are up and he wants to work! The actor who makes the show by the way. Two and a Half Men is not worth watching if Charlie Sheen is not the star. As far as his addiction, thats not my business, nor is it anyone else's. Not even the network for that matter because whether he is on drugs or not they are all still #winning if they continue Two and a Half Men.

I've always been wondering what social media should bring to the world. Charlie Sheen's addiction shows a hint of it, but I always believe that social media, along with other new things brought by technology development, is only a new tool of us human beings. How could you blame a tool? Neither is necessary to adress only the negative parts of a platform. I do see people advocating the public to contribute to people suffered in disasters. How many people are doing that on Twitter? I'm sure that's far more than three million.

I think Charlie Sheen's life problems that our society is so called "concerned" with is the least of the problems we should be focusing on. However with social media and the media in general they seem to put it on the list of crisis' going on in the world. I think what is going on between Japan and Libya is scary and getting my information via social media can be even scarier due to exaggeration, opinions, etc. For those not avid news watchers what is going on for sure gives us students another reason to become more aware of the news and involved. It is more scary not knowing what is coming next and I while I understand it will never go away I just hope the world can gain a sense of stability and hopefully social media can help that. I will say social media has helped me and many other students obtain urgent news stories faster. 

Geez, now that you mention it, the world is in chaos!! Oh yeah, the world is always in chaos. I think the major reasons we feel that it's worse than usual is based on two things. 1) the instantaneous reporting of the news and images that are practically in real time 2) that we are more persnoally involved in reporting and reacting to these events ourselves and social media plays a major role in this. As we know, twitter can immediatley report on events and send them to our phones. Prior to smart phones we had to go to our computers, televsions sets or radios. Now the news is sent directly to us. In return, we act as little beacons of this information, reporting to unsuspecting friends. In a way, we have all become news outlets. Word of mouth has become a major media in itself and social media is helping it grow even larger. And, that is why they call it the New(s) Media.

As far as the Charlie Sheen scandal...that's just hollywood. Nothing new there! Except that he has been able to leverage social media and create his own little soapbox from which gobs of people find it interesting enough to follow. If nothing else, it helps add a little diversion to all the "real" chaos in the world. That's why they call it entertainment.

I hope I don't get marked down on this for not spilling my political views or opinions on our current events. In fact, I'm not exactly sure what you are looking for an answer to. How does what feel as an MSU student, and how is being an MSU student any different from you? I'm happy to discuss social media via your blogs, but this seems a little left-field. I do not get my news from Twitter - I find more information to be available on websites and in newspapers.

I tend to be a "news monger" for topics of great interest to me; healthcare, world events, terrorism, taxes, education, business conditions, company mergers or bankruptcies, new products, etc.  My sources of news have expanded considerably with social media, and have come at a time when the print media is disappearing from my mailbox and front porch steps.  The biggest difference in reading social media sources is discerning which ones are accurate and whose opinions I value most.  Since I also tend to be fairly short on time and attention, I do like the "new" shorter version formats of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn messages with the option of reading an expanded version from links.    It does seem that "drama" news on celebrities like Charlie Sheen gets escalated in the social media to a point of ridiculousness.  However, the immediacy of receiving news on world catastrophies is much improved.  What would be interesting to know is whether "help" responses are greater to those who have suffered from a tsunami or earthquake disaster, and can social media truly rally greater public compassion and call to action.

I recently downloaded a CNN app on my smartphone and I feel this has been very useful in keeping me informed with what is going on in the world. I tend to stay away from the celebrity buzz because I find it rather unimportant, although it can sometimes be entertaining. I have heard due to what is going on in Libya that gas prices are soon to sky-rocket and as of lately with gas prices rising higher than $3.50, this statement seems to be true. I think it is great that people are wanting to help out with the disaster that has just struck Japan. I enjoy keeping up on that latest news because it not only gives me something to blog about, but it tends to be a major topic that I discuss with my peers.

Seriously, what is going on in the world? It is crazy. I am not an avid news follower mostly because I think it is always depressing stuff, but Twitter has really helped me stay informed with what's happening. Living day to day, it doesn't seem that crazy, but watching the news and seeing actual visuals of the tsunami damage, it is scary. I can't imagine how those people are living. It really makes you feel helpless to the world since something like that can strike at any moment, are there really isn't anything to be prepared. Could these be the preliminary signs of 2012, each year there will be a build of up disaster? The fact that the Charlie Sheen thing is being listed with the two previous news is insane. The attention celebrities get for doing wrong is disgusting. Although, I do find the Charlie Sheen interviews quite entertaining (#winning), society should not give him that much power and news time when there are other, more serious things going on in the world that deserve our attention. Hopefully our country will one day get things together and realize the way to harmonious living is not through war or idolizing drug abusing celebrities. 

We are experiencing a lot of new and interesting events going on in our world at the present time.  The last couple months have been a time of great change and revelation for our society.  It makes me wonder just what is going to be the next big event or scandal that is going to take place. I personally am not a huge follower of the news, however, social media has made it a lot more convenient for me to be updated on the world happenings. I strongly believe social media has played a major role in escalating the current news stories and may take over traditional forms of news in the near feature,e as our society continues to move at a rapid pace.

I get most of my news on everything from current events to celebrity news on Yahoo. I find their site to be the best to get a wide range of information on all different subjects and helps keep me in the know about things. If I am interested, I will do more research on other sites to see if I can find any other information. Also if a story really intrigues me, I will share it on my Facebook or Twitter. With so much going on in our world today, it's no wonder there is constant conversation going on through social media and blogs. I see it all the time, especially on Twitter. Any news I don't see on Yahoo, I usually get from the people I'm following on Twitter. I think all these outlets for news can only be a positive because it keeps people on top of current events and creates a learning experience from people sharing their opinions back and forth.

Social Media plays a huge role in how people get information today.  I find out about most current events on facebook or twitter.  If someone I follow posts something that seems intriguing, I then research it more.  But it all stems from one post, one person saying something so small that gets the whole world talking about it.  I do get nervous about the state of our world.  I know that weather is out of our control and the recent events in Japan are extremely devastating.  But as for other events, it sometimes seem that all the technology we have in this world is not always used with good intentions.  And because events spread like wild fire over the Internet thanks to social media, a lot of times, things are made into a bigger deal than they actually are and it can create more worry in our world than is needed. 

I do not really get involved with the news very much either.  I find it interesting to see people's jokes about Libya and everyone looking to produce funds or get others to donate on Twitter for Japan, but I honestly do not really know what is going on in either place.  The most news I get is about Charlie Sheen, Justin Bieber, or Jersey Shore as sad as that sounds.  I do find winning to b part of my weekly talk nowadays, it's unfortunate it is so dang catchy.  It's sad though that people such as I don't pay attention to the important stuff and only celebrities who are almost in a way being praised for bad actions.

I think this a great topic to bring into the discussion. If you look at the recent situation in Egypt, social media played a integral role in the uprising of protest. Before Egypt shut off internet access, social media was used as a tool to organize demonstrations and ensure that this historical movement was documented by the people demanding basic humanitarian rights- not by those in positions of power. I find it inspiring to see how social media can cultivate reform. It's a way for people to hold those in power accountable for their actions. Traditional media is no longer the dominant gatekeeper to information.
Power to the people!

The events of the past week or two have unfolded so quickly, it is hard to keep up. What is striking to me is that if there was a new development, even if I hadn't read the news yet myself, it blew up all over my social media so I was still informed right away. The tragedy that is unfolding in Japan is hard to watch and I truly hope that they can get the much needed aid in fast enough. Poor Charlie Sheen would almost prove to be comic relief if it didn't feel like laughing at/with someone in the midst of a full-on psychotic break. I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I started following him on Twitter right away. There is a feeling of revolution in the air, and not just internationally. The protests in Wisconsin and Michigan seem to have ignited something here as well. 2012 will prove to be a very interesting election year (if the world doesn't end first). I attend classes at the satellite campus in Novi, so I can't say what it feels like to be on the campus of MSU in the midst of all of this. I imagine being close to the state Capitol would mean greater student involvement in protests and the like. I'm sure that there are still people somewhere on campus holding signs and screaming hateful things, telling students that they are going to hell. People like to say that each generation is worse than the last, but I feel the opposite. Compared to when I was younger, I think that today's students are better informed, more engaged, and more willing to take action. I think that this may have something to do with social media because it connects us, and invites us to work together. I think that this keeps us from "Bowling Alone", and works against that isolating trend. 

I have family in Asia and it really hit home when I saw the news that morning. It is a terrible thing that happened in Japan, I can only imagine what people there  are feeling and if their homes have been washed away how hopeless they might feel. I just hope that people there and even here know we are thinking about them. Donations are something that we can do here at school. Union had a booth which was accepting donations for the families affected which will send them money. 

The year 2011 has really come out with guns blazing. I try not to listen to the news much because I always seem to see things which are negative. Something I like to live by is you might not be able to move the world or make a huge change on your own, but you can pa it forward in your community or do something for the area around you and people will follow your example. Take it day by, day. 

News travels fast, and with social media news seems to be traveling faster and faster everyday. I found out about the tragedy in Japan through Facebook. I read several statuses requesting that people keep Japan in their prayers, which in turn caused me to turn on the TV. There it was... devastation broadcasting on every news channel. Without social media sites like Facebook, I wouldn't have found out about the tsunami until much later. From serious news story like the catastrophe in Japan to light-hearted news regarding Charlie Sheen, I almost always get my news from social media first. 

I wouldn't say that I'm a news/political wealth of knowledge, but I keep myself informed. I do use Twitter for a lot of my news, but, for the most part, I stick to traditional medias. I listen to NPR and I watch CNN and MSNBC. I know which news sources I trust, and sometimes social media does not fall into that trusted category.

I agree that the natural disasters make this feel like the movie 2012 (in the past year there have been three major earthquakes: Haiti, Chile, Japan). As for Libya and Egypt, I think it's great that the people of those countries are speaking up and trying to move towards a free nation. The fact that social media palyed such a major part in Egypts liberation is amazing, it just goes to show that the limits of these new technologies are still undiscovered.

The morning the tsunami hit Japan, I was laying in my bed. I woke up and grabbed my phone that was on my dresser and while waking up, I went on twitter. It was there that I learned about the tragedy in Japan. I read hundreds of tweets regarding the tsunami and the state of Japan. It was then that I turned on the news. It hit me that twitter has become my number one source for news. Social media not only provides up-to-date news on the world, but it has given celebrities, leaders and followers a chance to help Japan in their relief efforts. The impact of social media, especially in regards to tragedy and helping fellow people out, has ranked supreme. Of course, Red Cross and major companies like Apple, have set up relief efforts, but the constant human-to-human communication that twitter and social media creates, has provided a way to donate and help Japan, that no other organization can mimic. As an MSU student and young adult in society, I think that the state of our world is going through a rough patch. I don't believe social media has caused any of this disarray, although it does give Charlie Sheen a forum to spew his crazy thoughts. Most importantly, twitter and social media has given us a way to stay informed and stay connected. 

I think that many younger people today get their news via Twitter or Facebook. It's more of a "word of mouth" approach to the news, which can be good or bad. It's amazing how fast things can travel via social media sites. And to look at the Charlie Sheen situation, he got over a million followers on Twitter in 24 hours, setting a world record. With the advancements of social media, people aren't only being fed the news, but can interact with the news. If someone has an opinion on anything going on, they can tweet it on Twitter or write a blog post on the issue, prompting others to get involved. I'll admit that I'm usually not the first person to stumble across breaking news, so I rely on my Facebook and Twitter to keep me in touch. Usually, I use my Facebook newsfeed to see what others are saying in the wake of a big event, and then will check it out for myself, because let's not forget that a lot of the information passed on by friends could get strewn or exaggerated, kind of like a game of Telephone. 

Social media has been very helpful when it comes to helping these countries raise funds.  I especially notice it for Japan, since most of my friends are asians (and quite a few are Japanese), so it hits closer to home.  It's good to see how students are able to keep up with the news and help these countries via social media.  I think now, more than ever before, students and young adults are more involved in tragedies.  The news are being delivered to them through a media that they are used to, and a media that they want to receive news.  So They are being more informed on current events. At the same time, it's kind of crazy how someone like Charlie Sheen is getting so much attention right now with the help of Twitter.  Twitter should have a filter where they filter out crazy tweets.

I don't try to avoid the news, but I tend to. I get some of my news from twitter, but I actually got a lot of the news about Japan from facebook. Friends were posting articles, videos and donation requests.

I am terrified for those in Japan. As a college student, very soon my life will be very different; graduating and getting a job. In a way, it feels like I'll be 'starting from scratch' and it's a scary thing. But Japan REALLY WILL BE starting from scratch.

My neighbors apartment caught fire a couple months ago and it nearly spread to my apartment. I came so close to loosing everything (and my neighbors did lose everything) that I put things (slightly) more into perspective. I dropped and broke two of my dinner plates recently, but I was like, "at least it's only two stinking plates and not everything I own."

I know Japan's situation is five thousand times the destruction level of my neighbors apartment burning down. I wish I could put myself in the Japanese's shoes, but I really can't. I can't imagine what it feels like to become displaced because your entire city is demolished.

In my first year and a half at Michigan State, I choose to ignore the news. I felt comfortable in my own little Spartan World and did not want that to change. However, in the middle of my sophomore year I realized that I had no clue what was going on in the world. I was going to college to become more educated so I should also be well versed in current events. However, it was not until this year that I realized how important the news really is. I am an intern at a Detroit based ad agency and I quickly realized that current events have an effect on business especially the car business. By reading the news every morning and staying updated on current events I am able to better do my job. I disagree that most of us get our news from Twitter, I actually don't know anyone who does that. Most of my friends prefer Yahoo/CNN online or the free national newspapers that MSU supplies.  

The news of all of these disasters happening at once is shocking. It puts in a real perspective that we sould not take anything for granted. It is troubling me that we are becoming involved in another war, is it ever going to end? It is also hard to believe that we can focus on a war when so many people are suffering in Japan. I feel lucky that I am currently an MSU student. I can learn from what is happening in the world and apply it in my future career.

I think social media plays a big role in current events but for me it is mainly Facebook. When people feel strongly about current events they share them with their friends. Important articles are posted and comments spread like wildfire. Social media allowes people to feel compassion about the news.

Social media does play a big part in my life in regards to news. I get all of my news from Twitter and Yahoo. I read only the articles that interest me, and try to avoid the local television news because it is depressing and lengthy. I think it's unfortunate that we have to enter into another war so soon, but I feel pretty confident that our military knows what they're doing and hopefully will not have to occupy Libya for very long. I also hope that we can help support Japan and that they will be able to get back up on their feet soon. It's sad to see that they're not getting the same amount of help that Haiti got after the earthquake.  

I also like to ignore the news. It tends to be sad and hard to listen to but then I feel bad and thankful at the same time that I am lucky enough to not being living through what so many other people have to. While it’s a little bit embarrassing that we hear more details about March Madness than we do about our country entering into another war, it still deserves more attention than watching someone destroy their own life well getting paid to do so, as Charlie Sheen is. Social media plays a huge role in this.

For the most part I can control what information I get. Using twitter I can choose to pay more attention to my MSU, TMZ or CNN feeds, keeping myself either well updated or extremely unaware. I do believe that Twitter is able to give so many people living through these events a voice that they might not have without it.

While there are unfortunate events happening one after another I still do not buy into any of this being a sign of the world ending. If it is, then it is. I will not be someone wasting my time worrying about it. I will continue to live in the present and hope for quick recovery for those who are suffering in this moment. 

As an MSU student, but more so as someone who will soon be out in the real world trying to make my way, events such as the tsunami in Japan and the war in Libya serve as a reminder of just how harsh life can be.  For no reason things that you've earned and worked for can be taken from you unfairly.  Those whose lives were devastated by the tsunami or the innocent civilians who have suffered from the war in Libya had/have little or no control over their lives.  This is scary to think about as a college student, in the end no matter how hard I work somethings will always be out of my control.  This of course is a fact of life but these recent tragedies have made me think about the lives effected and how the opportunity for trajedy to strike in my own life is a possibility.  In relation to social media,  I have recieved a fair amount of information from twitter regarding these tragedies as I follow both msnbc and BBCbreaking.  Finally its depressing but I believe the state of our world to be bleak.  With the worlds population growing faster than ever conflict will only increase as it becomes harder and harder for everyone to get along.

With all the recent news about Japan, Libya and yes, even Charlie Sheen- it does seem as if the world is approaching a mini-apocalypse. It is startling to hear that the United States is taking on another war, just another one under our belts that is going to create a lot of controversy among US citizens- along with possible negative backlash from other nations as well. Bringing up the issue of the earthquake that triggered the tsunami that devastated Japan also brings up other quaries such as, what/when is the next big thing going to occur? What is coming next? Will entire cities, countries, continents be wipped out after the next big natural disaster? What might be just as sad is that Charlie Sheen is about to make bank during his My Violent Torpedo of Truth tour. He will be getting paid for performing his 21 shows, the tiger-blood, drug-addicted star will be making a staggering $275, 000 per show. That's about $17 million a month for an hour and fifteen minute show. This is really hard to believe, and I can garauntee this is one guilty pleasure I will be counting myself out of. Social media is playing a huge role in all these different events- you can go on Twitter and every trending topic contains something about Japa, Libya and Charlie Sheen.

Social media is my main source for news. Although I try to keep up with what's going on in the news, I don't always have the chance during a day to turn on the news or search through newspapers. The people I follow on Twitter provide me with important links to must-read articles pertaining to what's going on around the world. This saves me time and energy, while allowing me to stay in-the-know. It's disheartening to think that the US is entering a war when we're still involved in another. It's also sad to see the priorities in many mainstream media sources. How does Charlie Sheen and the tragic tsunami that hit Japan share headlines and breaking news? If everyone stopped paying so much attention to Charlie Sheen, he would "go away." Although, I did find 'Unfriend Charlie Sheen Day' quite funny.  I never wasted my time following him in the first place, so I didn't have to go through the trouble of unfriending him. I rely on social media a lot, and I'm thankful that I have it to get quick updates directly from news sources.

I saw a tweet recently that really resonated with me, it said "after everything that has gone on on the past few months...maybe 2012 really is the end of the world." I am semi-dissapointed with humanity, that we allow people like Charlie Sheen to make incredible amounts of money for being an addict, and for having a total disregard for social norms or other people. In an ideal world, people who are bettering our society should be getting all of the attention that is given to people like Sheen and Lindsay Lohan. It worries me that this is what society is concerned with. I think that social media plays a huge role, because many people are getting their news from other sources besides news channels and newspapers in our modern day. Many of the things I find out are via friends who have read them places, and tweet it or post it on Facebook. While this is not a good way to get information, it is definitely the case for a lot of people in our society. 

There are many major issues going on with the world today that is splattered all over the media. It is sad to know that Charlie Sheen just as talked about as a deadly tsunami in Japan. I have never really been into watching the news every day so I have to get my news through other sources. It is probably not the most reliable but at least I have an idea about new topics and if I do want more information, I can watch the news or look online. Recently, I have been getting my news through Facebook. Most people update their statuses with the latest news stories. I also am a huge Conan fan so I know it sounds dumb but I look for some news in his monolog. If its important enough to be in his monolog, then I'm sure its pretty important or extremely talked about.

Thank god for Twitter - as sad as it is I'd be lost without it. I'm able to see and search for updates on every event currently taking place including the US in Libya, the Tsunami in Japan as well as Charlie Sheen's new strategy of what he calls #winning. With a few scrolls down on my Twitter feed I can stay up to date daily with all three of these events, although I could care less about Charlie Sheen's recent obsurd manerisms. However, I think it's sick and unfortunate that this man can gain so much attention through social media, attention that he doesn't deserve. Just when his drug addiction was really starting to take him and his career down, the man is now making obsurd amounts of money from this crazed social media stunt of his. It's sad when we as students and future business professionals really try to benefit and gain knowledge and credibility through the use of Twitter and other forms of social media - and then an insane man like Sheen can go out and tweet about irrelevant things and within days become a trending topic... it's sickening.