THE DEATH OF NEWSPAPERS HAS BEEN GREATLY
EXAGGERATED
OR WHY US GEEZERS
STILL BUY THEM
- First
of all there is the look and feel.
- It’s
light, compact and portable.
- I can
take it anywhere.
- It’s easy
on the eyes in a wide variety of lighting conditions.
- I can
skim several headlines or lead paragraphs easily.
- The headline matches the article, it’s not click bait
- You can tell easily how long an article is.
- No one is invisibly tailoring the news to their idea of what I am.
- The owners have a huge investment in a physical plant that requires integrity to protect.
- The
editors don’t know what I read.
- There
is no download time to read past the first line.
- You
can’t accidentally click on a full page ad for Viagra
- There
is no annoying animated advertising.
- There
are no pop-ups.
- It
doesn’t suddenly reformat the whole page for no apparent reason
- It’s
silent.
- I
can’t accidentally download a computer virus.
- Print
media is updated on a predictable frequency, daily, weekly, monthly
- What
looks new, is not just a “nine minutes ago” pointless update of something
I already read.
- Because
the space has costs, someone has edited the content to fit so I don’t have
to figure out what’s worth reading.
- There
is no expensive hardware to safeguard.
- When
I’m done, I can throw all or part of it away even at the airport or on the
train.
- I can
take the ads to the store and leave them in my shopping cart.
- I can
tear out a page or a section and give it to someone else.
- We can
separate sections and share one paper.
- I can
tear out a part I want to save and fit it in my pocket, or even my wallet.
- I can
fold it to fit my reading environment, a small table, the subway.
- I can
write on it.
- I can
do the puzzles without a printer.
- The movie
listings are easy to find and fit in my pocket.
- The
ads are local.
- All
the comics are on one page in the same order as yesterday.
- If I
lose a paper, or get it wet, or someone steals it, no big deal.
- Sometimes
it’s handy to have the old paper for templates, or patterns.
- Old
newspaper makes pretty good packing material.
- If I’m
cold I can stuff it in my jacket for warmth.
- Try making
a fire with a Kindle.
- The
Sunday color comics make great gift wrap especially for kids.
- Fresh
newspaper can form a sterile surface for emergency first aid, or
childbirth.
- A
rolled up paper makes a decent splint.
- I can use it to train the dog.