Search engines can tell you anything you need to know in a matter of seconds, personalized information can be sent right to the phone in your pocket, and if anything huge is happening, a few text messages will draw an entire town's attention to the matter.

It's the information age on overdrive, and no one seems more obsessed with technology's possibilities than today's teens. From texts to social networks to e-mail alerts, teens are plugged in. The question isn't whether teens are informed, it's what information is informing teens.

"Students mainly (get their news) from texting (and) social networking. (I see this) just in talking to students and the number of texts they send a day. It's mostly social news," said Patrick Loftus, Capital High School math teacher and mediation adviser. "Developmentally, teenagers are discovering themselves, how they relate to other people ... forming their identities, which is why the focus is so heavily on social networking."

It's true that "social information" venues are growing increasingly popular while many "hard news" sources are dwindling, largely due to the interests of today's youth. According to the 2002 National Election Study, the number of 18- to 29-year-olds who frequently watch news nightly dropped from 45 percent in 1974 to 19 percent in 2002; in contrast, MySpace saw 57 million U.S. users last year alone, growing to even higher numbers this year (according to www.web-strategist.com).

"(Teens) are informed ... but in a weird way," Capital High junior Alba Pacheco said. "We hear (information) all over the school, some is true and some is not true. We also use the Internet a lot and probably get most of our information from social networking and a lot of TV."

Steve Nenni, Capital High's journalism adviser, said, "The average students are not getting 'news,' not real news. They're relying on social networking, which is OK for local stuff ... (but) it is not fair or unbiased."

With so much available to teens in the form of social networking, the issue regarding traditional journalism is whether teens, as they age, will ever turn to straight news reporting.

Ryan Facteau is a high school senior who was chosen to represent Maine, his home state, at the Al Neuharth Free Spirit Conference in March in Washington, D.C., and, as an aspiring journalist, he wants to see traditional news reporting stay strong. "Journalists will forever remain important to providing truth, but the yellow journalism and biased media must recognize soon that this sort of media does us no good," he said. "Our generation will be responsible for bringing accuracy and truth back to the American people."

Still, even if traditional journalism writing lives on, it is evident that the next generation is making use of technology the way past generations never thought possible, and the heightened use of Internet and mobile technology is changing traditional news, even today. This has made teens across the country access news sources in brand new ways — whether on the Internet or through a cell phone.

Nate Tinner, the Indiana representative student journalist at the Free Spirit Conference, believes print journalism (newspapers) "will soon be obsolete." He said, "I get my news from online. I'm always on my computer/netbook/ Internet on my phone. I believe print powerhouses like Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal will soon go digital-only, and it'll likely be something only our generation can appreciate."

Ken Paulson, president of The Freedom Forum and Newseum, said, "It's hard to imagine a world when we didn't have the Internet ... in 1993 ... when there was no World Wide Web ... you could click, leave the room, raise the children, come back and (something) would be loaded. Even then you knew the Internet was going to change the world."

Public Radio reported in a survey that print, which tends to have loyal customers, has 40 percent of America's public as its customers, and that number is declining. Online news, which has been around for only about two decades, is used by 23 percent of Americans, and that number is growing. The divide is even more evident in teens, as statistics from www.nielsen.com show that teens are on the Internet an average of 23 minutes a day and 1-in-3 use mobile web, whereas only about 1-in-4 report reading newspapers. This is partially due to e-mail sites having readily available news, and almost every newspaper and news station having a corresponding news site.

"I probably use the Internet more than papers or television news. I check the news at least once a day," Sarah Lopez, a Capital High graduate, said.

Loftus said, "I think a lot of news will remain the same ... I see newspapers being read more and more online, and it is more technology oriented. I think eventually we will basically have pocket computers that are our news (sources)." Loftus suspects the Apple iPad will more common.

Many believe that the iPad and devices like it will be the future of news for the new generation.

"I think that ultimately, the Kindle and iPad are the first steps in a brand new way that the news media works," said Adam Offitzer, the student journalist who represented New Jersey in Washington in March. "Websites will now have to implement both written articles and videos into more interactive settings that can effectively attract our generation."

Many also believe, due to new technological interests, news and information will come down to a mixture of all known and yet-to-come news sources.

Jack Marsh, who teaches the latest technology to student journalists, said the teen generation you will communicate on multiple platforms in real time.

"Tools can make you a better journalist," he added. "It's critical you be versatile."

Along with these developments in news comes the dilemma of paying for news sources. Many teens reported not wanting to pay for a news source, especially with all that is available for free online.

"As soon as (free) access goes away ... things will change. Right now the model is to drive as much audience as possible and get money from advertisers," Orage Quarles, president and publisher of The News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C., said.

Things will change as teens become adults who are interested in happenings of the world and crave information, but expect it delivered in new and (for them) more familiar ways.

"The growing technology will (not) decide itself, the people will decide. All that truly matters is that (the news reported) is true, and there are people writing it," CBS correspondent Bob Schieffer said.

Rebecca Gonzales is a 2010 Capital High graduate. You can reach her at nellybly22@gmail.com.