Why are people still reading newspapers? Recently, while at JFK airport waiting for my flight from NYC to San Francisco, I noticed more than a few people reading newspapers made of paper and splotched with ink. People still do that? The people reading these newspapers looked relatively intelligent and college educated, nonetheless, they read their newspapers with passion and enthusiasm. I watched these strange people with amazement like a child watching animals feeding in a zoo for the 1st time.
Many of you are thinking: "EHAM, why are you so harsh? If people want to read newspapers, then you should let them be.". Blah, blah, blah... My question is: "Why are these people paying for a limited, dated, narrow source of information?". Those zoo animals, I mean people could not possibly be interested in everything written in their specific newspapers. As we all should know, it is possible to get information from hundreds of newspapers via an RSS feed in real time with aggregated articles that meet your needs, not the needs of some editor at the New York Post. Maybe those people don't know what they should know. Another interesting topic for a different article.
So, what do you think? Is EHAM too harsh on these newspaper readers?"
2 comments:
Well EHAM, I happen to be one of those "zoo animals" that still enjoy reading the daily rag - though I don't actually read it daily. And don't worry...I take no offence at being labeled such, in fact, I kind of like it. :)
Like many others I am aware that a bevy of tools are at my disposal to provide information on "areas of interest"...and I avail myself of them when desired. However, reading the newspaper does a couple of "unique " things for me: 1) It causes me to spontaneously read about things my normal areas of interest, by bringing me face to face with them in a sometimes unexpected fashion. 2) It keeps me in touch with a piece of our fading past - which to me is important. 3)It causes me to "slow down" and remember that life is not always about incresing the speed with which we live it ( a nice cigar and a newspaper...ahhhh...now theres a formula for quieting the heart). In short, I understand where you're coming from.....but I'll pass! :)
Thanks masterg...
I appreciate the opposing view point and if it works for you then go for it... Thanks for the comment...
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