A Decade Later: How Getting Our News Has Changed

It’s a sign of the times.

During a Phillies-Mets game in Philadelphia Sunday night, thousands of fans were seen holding their phones instead of watching the game as a flood of texts and updates were sent across the internet informing of Bin Laden’s death.

It was only a matter of minutes after the news broke before fans in the stadium began shouting “USA, USA” to show their support.

Just a decade ago, many ABC-7 viewers said they heard about the September 11th attacks from television news sources or the radio.

But now, according to a PC Magazine poll, people are now getting their news from the internet and cell phone.

The death of Osama Bin Laden flooded Twitter, text messages, and Facebook within just minutes of the official statement from the President Obama.

We asked our ABC-7 viewers on Facebook to tell us the difference between how they heard about the September 11th attacks and of Osama Bin Laden’s death.

“9-11, radio. Ross Middle School science class, still remember everything,” wrote Karliita Villado. “Osama, Facebook, CNN and MSN updates. We get updated faster in networking sites now than 10 years back.” ?

More than 87% of those who responded said they got the news of Bin Laden’s death from either the internet or their phone, almost a ten-fold increase from those who heard about the September 11th attacks on the internet.

Technology also lead to a man who lived near Bin Laden’s compound accidentally tweeting the events of the raid to the world.

“A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad Cantt,” wrote @ReallyVirtual. “I hope its not the start of something nasty.”

Eventually, when the author heard the news of what really happened, he connected the dots.

“Uh oh, now I’m the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it,” he wrote.

Just in the past decade, the difference in how we receive breaking news has changed drastically.

Given the trend in technology and news now, who knows how things will evolve in the future.