Consuming Media, or Media Consuming Us?

by Kylie Kilmer

Monday through Friday, 9:00 to 5:00, I spend hours slogging along the highways of rural Kansas, often putting in hundreds of miles every week. It’s a solitary time— meaning windshield thoughts are abundant.

Kylie Kilmer, Dickinson Co.

While it’s not unheard of for me to spend that time binging early 2000’s punk rock or a good audiobook, I find myself gravitating toward podcasts, oftentimes of political nature. It seems that most people disregard political analysts as entertainment, but I can’t get enough! I find the perspectives of different hosts fascinating, and though I don’t always agree with their take, it’s interesting to hear their thoughts.

A Slippery Slope

Podcast platforms are filled with hundreds and thousands of titles to choose from, and it can be difficult to determine real news from propaganda, especially for younger listeners. Podcasters have the free will to say whatever they want, really, and often aren’t presenting fact checks or citing credible sources. It’s a slippery slope to start with news, move into opinions, and slide right into propaganda.

Just like when consuming the news, it’s important to give ourselves a bit of pause to critically think about the information we are consuming, believing, and reacting to. Is the information being presented helpful or harmful, especially to minority populations? Does the information support violence or does it support kindness and empathy? Are you listening to confirm your already-held beliefs? Or are you willing to change your mind on a topic with new information?

This mindset isn’t just for podcasts. We must pay attention to what we are consuming on ALL platforms — TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram — they’re all designed with an algorithm to serve more and more content to keep us hooked, not necessarily what’s in our best interest. The longer views and increased interactions, even negative interactions, prompt the algorithm to continue feeding more and more to our timeline, making it harder and harder to break out of a continuous message.

Exist in Real Life

After hours a week of listening to content, I notice when it’s time to take a break from the doom and gloom of political news, especially in the current state of our country. The new Taylor Swift album was the perfect reprieve this week after endless reporting of the government shutdown.

Last week, I sat under that Friday night lights of the local homecoming football game. I was a bit awestruck at how present everyone was — nobody trolling comment sections, arguing party politics, or engaging in violence. For a bit of time, we were all just neighbors sharing in real life community.

I told myself that I needed more of that. It was encouraging to give myself the reminder that even though we are incredibly divided on tv and in our newsfeeds, that doesn’t play out as true in the bleachers on Friday night.

Be informed.

Fight the fight.

But don’t forget to live your life in between.

Observations by Kylie Kilmer, a dedicated educator and citizen in Dickinson County and an announced candidate for KS House District 70 in 2026 (campaign Facebook page).

Published cc 4.0 by-nc-nd