I'm trying to remember how many current events I was familiar with when I was a teen? That would be the late 70s. I remember hearing about stupid things Carter was doing and when Reagan became president the whining by Liberals of everything he did. I paid ore attention when I was in college, but I believe I was a bit more up on the news than my peers in highschool.
I think that Leftists misusing the new media has now backfired and made the younger generation simply mistrust it all, and ignore any and all "news". While this doesn't make them blindly obedient to Leftists, it does leave them oblivious and politically naïve, which still feeds into the Left's plan, since the less people know, they easier they are to manipulate.