Lately, it seems everything on my Twitter feed is filled with misinformed rants concerning Donald Trump and honeyed infographics about Bernie Sanders.

No one can escape the looming shadow of a presidential election soon approaching, even though it is more than a year away. It’s no surprise that political interest has been on the rise, since the email scandal of Hillary Clinton and the infamous name that is “Deez Nuts” have dominated the press for months.

This is a good thing.

Participation plays a crucial role in a well-functioning democracy, and the social media response to the upcoming election shows that young people are sincerely invested in these candidates.

Since teenagers have established a true political presence, more students should go old school and watch a presidential debate on TV. Whether you plan to vote or not, debates offer credible information regarding issues that actually matter, and help you form opinions that can impact the rest of your life.

These debates are a lot more reliable than Twitter and are less clouded up with factually incorrect information that has no benefit in the long run.

For one thing, there is little room for error when it comes to well-established news stations such as CNN and NBC, who are hosting a total of six debates over the next few months. People are employed to fact check every opinion, statistic and plan shared by candidates, which are then recorded by the network and can be instantaneously accessed online. There is no guesswork involved or any questions of where the candidates stand.

Although some candidates are notorious for going off on tangents, a lot of their seemingly irrelevant answers can reflect what the candidate cares about. For example, someone who talks far too much about immigration is demonstrating the extent to which this issue will be pushed during their presidency.

Most importantly, everyone ideally gets equal screen time. The front runners and the underdogs go head-to-head on the same show. This means whether someone has taken a backseat on the campaign trail or has been chillin’ in Cedar Rapids, you have the opportunity to see them both and can be introduced to lesser-known candidates.

I’m not saying that watching a debate will solve your problems, but it can take away the stress of a high-strung election and make you feel comfortable when expressing your political opinion.

Using a debate as a jumping off point for further discussion is one step towards deciding the biggest question of the next year: Who will be the next President of the United States?