Susan Reimer's information was enlightening and frightening ("Facebook and the news," June 5). Today, no one "consumes" the news, they nibble at it. People choose news sources the way they pick at cocktail canapes. Fast, fun, tasty but not filling.
Today, we need in-depth information about everything — from the Baltimore riots to the implosion of the Middle East. And the preferred access route now is an on-line click. Even television news seems to be falling out of favor. Alas, it appears the Pew Research Center didn't even consider newspapers in their study.
I enjoy reading websites and on occasion something of value may turn up on Facebook. What I've found, though, is I customize Internet news to my specific interests. Reading an actual newspaper or magazine is different. Stories you'd never consider or even search for will hit home. So often I'll find something in my daily newspaper that's unusual and important. A topic or detail I'd never discover by scanning Internet sites.
Unfortunately, Ms. Reimer's column demonstrated how stratified we've become by age. There's a growing apartheid based on birth year, and it's dangerous. Why can't a Baby Boomer (my generation) act and think like a millennial at times — or vice versa?
I find television news repetitive, geared more to entertain than inform and loaded with too much sports and celebrity trivia. "News" is about what's "new." When a person customizes their intake based on narrow interests, nothing really new has a chance to surface.
Rosalind Heid, Baltimore