How do I get my news? I'll tell you.

The way I consume my news on any given day varies, but I can tell you that it is certainly different than the way someone consumed news, say, five, ten years ago. I normally access most of my news when I am at my desk at work, since journalism is already on the brain and at least for me, once I start absorbing news, I usually have a hard time stopping.

This may be different for many people in the country, but I do not get much of my news from television. If it happens to be on, great, but I never turn on the TV specifically to watch the news. Maybe it is because I am a fan of print journalism, but I tend to get most of my information about current events online.

Although I do often go directly onto the New York Times website, Huffington Post, CNN or the Associated Press website, I find that Twitter is my best outlet to get all the information I need at once. I follow major news outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Huffington Post and the Boston Globe, as well as smaller outlets such as Seacoastonline, Foster's Daily Democrat and WMUR. Combined, my Twitter feed becomes a nonstop stream of various headlines ranging from trouble abroad or local stories.

Although I'd like to say I'm not, I am definitely a child of this generation, with a shorter attention span and a need to absorb vital information very quickly and efficiently. Therefore, Twitter works perfectly, with its character limit. If I find the headline or blurb interesting enough, I will click on the link and read the rest of the story, but many times, simply the headline will be enough information for me to decide whether or not I want to pursue the rest of the article or not. Some aren't interesting enough to pursue, while others are just so direct and to the point that it isn't even necessary to read the follow-up information.

I think that in this shifting age of journalism, it is important to note the needs of the readers. As I previously mentioned, I need a news outlet that I can sift through quickly and efficiently, as I decide in a split second if a story is worth a read or not. This is coming from a journalism major who enjoys being in-the-know about current events, so how are we, the journalists, going to change our platforms to entertain the masses that may not be as committed to keeping themselves informed? We are going to need to adapt with the times and be innovative, creative and forward-thinking to keep the public informed in a way that is both effective on our end, and meets our readers' needs on the other.