I read the news today, oh boy

I judge people by where they get their news. Understanding the world in which we live is part of being a good citizen, a good member of the community, and being able to effect the changes you want to see in your world. Your ability to evaluate the quality of your sources tells me a tremendous amount about how seriously to take anything you say. As guidelines they aren't absolutes, but I've been using this model for 20 years and it's not failed me yet.

Don't follow news at all: Anything you say about current events is just noise and thus safely ignored, mostly neutral though with a mild tilt left or right depending on what radio station you listen to in the car, as their news segments will influence your views.

A combination of evening or morning local broadcast stations, the local newspaper, and local media websites: You're 75 or older, a product of your generation. You are moderately informed but fit very solidly in the general demographic of the region and likely don't have much depth or breadth of understanding of most issues.

A combination of broadcast and cable news, local and national papers, mainstream media websites: You make an effort to know more about what's going on and are potentially well informed on the general issues.

Only alternative media (local alt-weekly, Village Voice, Mother Jones, Alternet, etc): Reasonably informed on the hot alt issues, but probably missing out on a lot of more general issues and most anything in sci/tech/business news. We could have some good conversations about a specific subset of current events, but there would be big gaps as well. There is an unfortunately high risk that you also buy into a lot of new age woo nonsense and could suffer the same sort of rigid ideological purity as those who only frequent conservative media sources.

Only conservative media (World Net Daily, Drudge, Newsmax, etc): Epistimic closure is vital to your sense of self. Any fact that contradicts your world view must be a denied violently despite the fact that it, indeed, a fact. You don't have conversations, because that requires both listening and talking.

Only social media: LOLZ OMGWTFBBQROFLCOPTER. U R DUM.

I realize time is fleeting, the demands of modern life and the plethora of information sources make it a challenge to be informed. I fall short of the ideal of picking fairly evenly from all the above paths and creating a balanced diet of news as well, though I do at least make an effort. I should probably pay more attention to my local media than I do (then I'd at least know when there are major construction projects or parades or marathons that are going to screw up getting where I want to go) and I should read more than the two conservative sources that I currently read (The Economist and The Dish).for the purposes of this guide this includes but is not limited to all the major cable news outlet and national paper websites, Time, Newsweek, Atlantic, Slate, Salon, and Huffington Post (much to my chagrin)