Opinion essay
Why is it important to stay informed?


In a world of control information play a very important role. How relevant are this information for every single person and what are the different functions of TV, newspapers…. Does information help us in our daily life and why ought people to be informed?
At first I want to write about the social aspect. Under different living circumstances it’s unimportant to be informed about things which happened for example last week in Israel or who won the Oscar for best actor, but in schools or universities there are many discussions about political affairs or important events, because people need information for their studies. However, it seems that only meaningful information can help you, but information from popular news can also be very interesting. They can help you to communicate with other people without getting too personal. So they are useful for finding friends or other social contacts.
Secondly I want to show my own relation to information. For me it’s always important to stay informed. I need information in school where the teachers give you marks for your knowledge. And I often discuss with my immigrant friends about problems in their countries. Furthermore, I’m not only staying informed because of this. I want to know what’s going on in the world and probably I am able to reconsider doubtful opinions. More information means fewer misunderstandings. For instance almost all disputes arising are based on incorrect information.
Next I want to present how information influences democracy and how the countries use the TV, newspapers and other information sources for their intentions. Politicians use TV advertisements for example with elections. In the USA millions and millions of dollars were spent for the election campaign in 2008 and those who made the better campaign won. So in this case informing the citizens plays a very important role. Not only in democracies but even more in dictatorships information is essential for the leading groups. It is called Propaganda, if they spread rumors and tell lies. For instance the Nazis in Germany used their Propaganda to convince the people of their values and agitate them against minorities and undesirable foreigners.
To conclude, information is very important for communication, for yourself, and not at least for the democracy we live in, but we have to consider what is true and what is false. That means, you should try to obtain more than one opinion and create a logical result. So be aware of manipulation.

You can see movements on the graph, which describe the electricity tariff sine 1970 until 2006. In the beginning the price was at 6 cent/kWh and has and steady upward trend over the period. In the year of 1989 the price soars from 12,5 to 15 cent/kWh, but stabilizes in the period between 1990 and 2000. Afterwards the movement takes a significant upward trend till 2006. Now we know that the movement will follow a decreasing trend because of the economic problems all over the world.