Words are important. Speaking, writing, reading — all forms of communication take thought and care, both on the part of the receiver and the giver. Or so I’ve always assumed. Today, however, words are treated like small plastic beads traded among children, neglected or lost in between couch cushions or under heater vents. We admire them for their shiny quality and the next minute forget about them entirely. Nowhere is this careless handling of words found more than in modern day media.

Media has changed drastically with the invention of the internet. The newspaper, radio and television, of course, impacted the means of communication, but most recently, the instantaneous and democratizing power of the internet has transformed the way we create and receive information. Through it, we have developed a breed of media based on clickability, sensationalism and confirmation bias. As a result, not only has the artistic quality of media suffered, but media has become an empty, twisting flame bent on burning the moths that follow its light. It is divisive and false, a bright facade with no substance, and unless we reclaim the value of words and truth, it will continue to be so.

Clickbait is a direct consequence of the ads from which websites gain their revenue. As companies have realized the power of marketing, they have altered their focus in order to gain more views on their page, and thus, more money from the advertisers. Since there are SO many websites, social media platforms and online publications, there is competition for a viewer’s attention. Flashy headlines, sexual pictures and blurbs like “You won’t believe what happens next … ” or “One weird trick to … ” have come to dominate the online media. Why? Well, these strategies work. Our eyes gravitate to the link, we click, read, are vaguely amused, and the website makes money.

Another tactic used by media is sensationalism. We enjoy the strange, the extreme, the horrifying, the tragic, and the media caters to what we want. Have you ever noticed that positive, uplifting, encouraging stories hardly ever make the news? What you can find are cases of child abuse, incensed articles on Trump and story after story of mass shootings. I’m not saying that these stories should not be covered by the media or that being informed about tragedy isn’t important. But if that’s ALL the media covers? If we don’t also see the good in public leaders, find hope in desperate situations or offer encouragement to this broken world, then the media becomes a one-note melody.

What we inform people of is just as important as how we inform them, and it is this last aspect of the way media communicates that is the most destructive. When the media uses confirmation bias to appeal to its audience, it enables individuals, societies and nations to remain static, rutted in habit, complacency and fear. Confirmation bias is divisive, it creates close-mindedness and it is a false portrayal of the truth. When we only tell people what they want to hear, we eliminate opportunity for change. When liberal media only tells liberals that they are right and conservative media only tells them that they are right, then the nation remains divided, and there can be no chance of listening or collaborating together.

The state of the media today is not just the fault of the internet or advertising or corporations wanting to make a profit; all of these aspects boil down to the problem of people. We are a culture that values entertainment over thought and being right over enacting what is right. The choices we make as an audience determine the media, and so it falls to us, as both receivers and creators of the written word and other forms of art, to set a higher standard. Reconsider what kinds of media you are consuming, refuse to accept opinions without truth and take care with the words you speak and read.