How do most people receive their news? Do they watch their favorite pundit every evening? Do they read the news online every day, week, or month? Or does their knowledge of the world come from what they hear going about their daily lives?

In the past, most people’s news came from newspapers, which they read consistently every week and with little dazzle and a lot of room for thought. People didn’t know what was going on halfway around the world as it was happening, but they did not experience a phenomenon that is common now in modern sources: the gradual and unnoticeable sidelining of some major issues.

When people get all of their news from newspapers, they discuss that particular issue for a week, until more issues develop. When they receive the most recent news, they expect the most recent developments and theories on the issue. If the topic simply disappeared from one issue to the next the reader would be extremely confused.

The reader would wonder, “What changed? This was important a week ago.” However, if coverage of certain issues dwindles over time, no one will pay attention. For example, if Ukraine is thrown into chaos on Friday, the top articles will be about Ukraine, and so will Saturday’s and Sunday’s.

But, as the events progress, the pundits scream, and the demagogues preach, the surprise and the freshness of the topic decays. Less people will be talking about it on Monday, and even less on Tuesday, until on Friday, the issue has become a footnote, replaced by another issue doomed to fade. The viewer has slowly been weaned off the issue, so when it finally becomes minor, they do not experience the confusion that they would if a newspaper dropped the topic.

How often does this occur? Just look at the news. When did you last hear about the efforts to save the girls captured by Boko Haram? Did you know that this happened again only a week or two ago? People “hashtagged” their hearts out when it happened the first time but now the enslavement of women warrants as much attention as a funny cat video.

The same can be said for “Bridgegate”, the mystery of the lost MH370, and the political crisis in Egypt. Yet Christie may still run for president, there have been no massive changes to flight procedures, and Egypt is basically still a junta. This only reinforces our sense of isolation from the world and from politics in general.

At Harriton, we may think about people dying of Ebola one minute and about our upcoming history test next, but we are in high school. Shouldn’t politicians and adults be expected to have a slightly longer attention span? These issues have not gone away, even if we have forgotten them.

Because we are no longer talking about an issue does not mean an Egyptian protesting in favor of democracy is not being shot by the military, or Boko Haram is not still selling women into slavery. We would do well to remember we might not always be so fortunate.

Politics may seem like a big play to us, but when the tables are turned and the decisions of our leaders define important aspects of our lives, we can only hope others will take things more seriously. America’s apathy to ineptitude manifests in the media, but the problem lies within all of us. We must hold our leaders accountable for solving problems, not just bringing them up, or accept that politics are meaningless.