A couple weeks ago I stopped cold turkey a practice I had enjoyed for the past 20 years. Over the last several months I had really considered pulling the plug and I believed the time was finally right. After two decades of religiously reading the daily newspaper in physical form each day, I recently made the switch to the online edition.
Dating back to living in my parents house, going through when I lived in the dorms, and following me every place I have lived on my own since college, I have (or my parents have) subscribed to the local newspaper. Without fail, I have read the paper every single day for the longest of times. As an 8-year-old kid I emulated my dad at the kitchen table and it turned into my own habit.
I really had no good reason to continue reading the print edition. I read sappy newspaper columns all the time about people who can’t live without the touch/smell/look of a physical paper but that was never my issue. I had no emotional bond with the paper and ink. If anything, I kind of got annoyed at how the papers would fill up my garbage can (I don’t recycle) and how the Sunday paper would just completely overwhelm the space of my living room.
I converted to the digital newspaper because I could no longer rely on the print version showing up on my doorstep before 5:30 a.m. When I moved to Myrtle Beach, the local newspaper here unfortunately had problems getting the paper to me before I left for work. Many times, it would never arrive at all. It frustrated me a great deal.
However, with my print subscription I also was given access to the online edition. When the papers first didn’t start showing up I went and bought a replacement from the gas station, not knowing about my digital perk. Probably about the fifth time I complained, my newspaper told me that I could view all content online in the exact same layout as the print edition. Another morning came where I didn’t get my paper and I pulled it up online. After viewing it that first time, I knew I wasn’t going back to my old ways.
The digital version of the newspaper is awesome. Outside companies contract with local papers to scan the actual newspaper and use fancy software to make it very user friendly and readable. You are looking at the newspaper as if it was the print edition (layout and all), you just simply don’t have to worry about disposing of it or getting ink on your hands. It is all right in front of you on your computer. Again, you aren’t presented with a wasteland of links, you are presented with the actual paper…just in digital form.
The best aspect of this all is the price. The subscription rate for the digital version is much cheaper than the print version. At times I think my newspaper lost business and money with me because of the poor delivery service but then I reason that they probably did it on purpose. I think there is a big push to convert all customers to digital.
No nostalgia from me! I am glad to now be an online/digital newspaper reader. It is convenient and eco-friendly. I wish I made the upgrade a few years back. Don’t Blink.
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