Fail to pay attention to what is happening around you and you will inevitably experience very negative consequences. You will feel the pain of your apathy. You surrender your ability to protect yourself from negative people, events and actions when you leave your stability in the hands of others. No one, NO ONE, will ever care about your wellbeing as much as you will.
There are so many ways to get stunning levels of information in seconds. Literally from the site of an incident, halfway around the world at a tap of a finger with your smartphone and a highspeed internet connection. Twitter (trending and lightning feeds), Facebook, YouTube and others are just the tip of an iceberg of information.
You need not dedicate your entire day to such pursuits you just need to find a few reliable people, on each side of important topics and follow them. You can also sign up for local, state and federal SMS and email alerts. In the event of a major incident you will receive alerts on your phone and instantly know what is happening.