Week 1: Goodbye print, hello digital!

The comedian, George Carlin, in his piece, “The Modern Man” (see link above), does a very nice job of briefly summarizing what it means to live in today’s digital world. All the technology and advancements that have been developed over the years have a great impact on the way modern lives are carried out. The whole meaning of life and the daily activities that we partake in have changed. One of these changes has occurred in the literary world. Because there are a million and one other things to do, people do not read as much as they once did. The consumption of print books is at a constant rate of decline. Steven Levy, in a Newsweek article suggests that “[b]ooks aren’t dead. (They’re just going digital.)” I definitely agree with this claim.
People do a lot of online reading these days. In this post I want to focus on the online news trend and the effect it has on the consumption of print news.
Many read the news online or on their Blackberries, iPhones and iPods, and other smartphones. This way they can take the news with them, in the palm of their hands, wherever they go. The convenient online availability eliminates the need for print newspapers, which saves money, space, effort and the environment! However, there are still many people who feel the need to hold a physical newspaper in their hands and read the news, simply because it is a habit that they do not want to let go of. In an effort to maintain a place in our digital age, many newspaper companies now have employees who hand out newspapers directly into people’s hands downtown Toronto. Not only does this increase the amount of readers (because it is much easier to have something handed to you than to go to a newspaper box andpick it up yourself), it also increases brand awareness since the people handing out these newspapers are dressed in the brand colours, as well as sport banners. Print news companies who are faced with the challenge of slowly dying need as much awareness as they can get. An evening newspaper (T.o.night) started this custom of hand delivering their newspaper, and other brands were very quick to follow. This just goes to show how much effort and marketing has to be put into the distribution of print these days in order to maintain readers.Gone are the days when having a paperboy on his bicycle flinging the newspapers at your door every morning was enough! We are now consumers of the digital world!
-Over and out-
Signed: Non-Analog