It’s Sunday, which means we buy The Herald Palladium and The Chicago Tribune for our evening reading. But what we’ve noticed of late is the paucity of news in both papers. Where once they were filled with various sections filled with columnists’ takes on events, today they are thin replicas of yesterday. I suspect it’s a sign of the Internet times. Or should I say the Internet Times?
I also suspect I belong to a dying breed of reader who likes to hold a newspaper in her hands. She likes to hold magazines and books too. It’s not that I don’t own a Kindle®; but I use it when I’m traveling and don’t want to lug several pounds of books with me. When I’m home I want to hold whatever work I’m reading, flipping pages and feeling the weight of it.
Other, younger readers seem to care less; and I’m not sure why. Perhaps their world is filled with images from a computer or a smart phone and they’ve never enjoyed holding real words in their hands. Knowing that the world is ever spinning forward, I’m sure the time is passed when they will.
It saddens me. Still, I’ll read the bone-thin version of The Herald Palladium and The Chicago Tribune tonight, holding the newsprint to the light, studying the headlines, and remembering what it was like when the printed page was special.
I imagine Gutenberg would be as dismayed as I am.
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