Lately, there has been so much uproar and discontent amongst our society, both politically and socially, that the media is literally shoving it in our faces at every turn. The simplest of tasks, such as browsing social media out of boredom, now result in the awareness of a new crisis. It has become nearly impossible to turn a blind-eye to these current events and even more difficult to decipher the true facts of the matters at hand.

As guilty as we all are of gawking at pop-up articles on Facebook and Twitter, claiming to have the inside scoop to the latest political scandals and social upheaval, it is important to remember where the source is coming from. Being the political junkie that I am, I find myself constantly engrossed in these articles and then seeking some form of validation for the truth they claim to spread. As the good little college students that we all are, we definitely have all of our televisions tuned into C-SPAN, Fox and MSNBC at all times. However, for those of us that lack leisurely lifestyles that allow our schedules to be cleared to in order to stay glued to a television, there are handy dandy little apps to help keep us informed and on our toes. I’ve taken the liberty to very biasedly rate these apps for your benefit.

Coming in the top spot is my personal favorite for any and all international news, as well as scientific developments: BBC (British Broadcast Company). Aside from being an actual international source for international news, the BBC app has a catchy notification tone. At a hot second place would be the CNN app. The app version of CNN provides the latest news stories in a timely manner and excludes their talking head version of the topic. In a very respectable third place would be the app for NPR. Now I know that most assume it’s only those with “tortured souls” and the elderly that actually listen to NPR while in their vehicles, the app provides a drastically different type of outlet. The app for NPR provides the latest domestic stories, both politically and socially, with a brief overview of foreign affairs. Tied for the fourth spot on my biased list of rated news apps would be both the Fox news app and the MSNBC news app. While these are both respectable news outlets, let’s never forget the biases that are rooted in all forms of media and these two just happen to represent both ends of the conservative/liberal spectrum. Some noteworthy news apps that didn’t quite make my list include: New York Times, Washington Post, ABC news app and Huffington Post.