It seems gone are the days when individuals all over the country would pick up their morning paper ready to read the day's headlines. Now it appears you can not only get the morning's headlines but on the ride to work breaking stories now light up on your smart phone and alerted by the newest form of a tablet. News coverage has quite literally become a 24 hours news cycle. Today more than ever before you can get the biggest story of the day before you even get out of bed.
While reading The Business Insider article "Mobile Usage: How Consumers Are Using Their Phones, And What It Means", I was very interested to see that "mobile now accounts for 12 percent of Americans' media consumption time". Taking into account this article is from February of 2013, which is a full year later, I would assume that it is now an even higher percentage. It does make you wonder what will eventually become of print media and what new technology lies in store for the technological aspect of how we get the news.
Throughout my college career I could begin to see changes in the way print media was handled from my freshman year to senior year as well as my eventual progression into graduate school. I remember students (myself included) were beginning to already have the fascination with smart phones, especially since the I-phone was still relatively new but I don't remember people having their phones constantly within reach or always looking at them which is the norm now. Twitter was something in my mind that was only for celebrities and I really had no use for one. Of course that eventually changed, now while conversing with friends about hashtags I also receive news updates from CNN, local news, and ESPN among others. I also remember being required to print out pages and pages of articles, handouts, PowerPoint slides, etc. for class. It always made me feel somewhat guilty to be printing all this paper, it almost felt wasteful especially if the handouts were barely used and paper can be quite costly. Towards the end of my undergrad career and beginning of my graduate career, more professors would encourage us to bring in our laptops or tablets so we could type our notes, look at the required articles, and look up news sources.
With the evolution of smart phones and tablets, we see even more individuals getting their news and breaking stories from online sources rather than the traditional print media. When stories break such as the bombing at the Boston Marathon, people want to be informed and kept up to date but they can't always be in front of the TV. With news sources online it's easier to just hit refresh to see the latest updates. The majority (not all) probably has access to some type of phone, tablet, computer, etc. so it has that simplicity factor but also is continuous and something that might make the print edition easily old news by the time the morning rolls around.
Magazines could also find a hard predicament with just print editions. As a young female, I love fashion magazines as well as the occasional celebrity gossip. However, I have noticed that I buy less and less magazines and the ones I do purchase I often find myself reading half of or not even reading it at all. Why would I pay $3-$5 for an Us Weekly when I can just go to the website and read the majority of stories/articles online? I will say if there is a story that I want to read then I will definitely purchase that magazine either the printed or digital version. So, I do think that magazines will continue to find success even if it is more through the digital way.
While there are plenty of positives with digital media some problems do exist and I don't think print media is completely dead yet. As the article from USC mentions there are some scary additives that go along with being so immersed in online technology. If you have ever googled your name you might be surprised with the information that pops up. Chances are it not only includes your name but also pictures, home addresses,birthdays,telephone numbers and pretty much any personal detail you can think of. Some health concerns also arise when you think about just how much time people spend on their phones and tablets, you have to wonder how many children will have carpel tunnel at a young age due to constant texting and tweeting. I myself noticed a change in eyesight about 3 years ago during my junior year of college and believe a lot has to do with the constant time I have to spend looking and reading small text online as well as my phone. Also, with digital news there is more of a chance for stories to get misconstrued and mistakes are often made, an experience that comes to mind is the shooting at Newtown Elementary. The gunman was misidentified as news circuits did not have all the correct information but I remember seeing various tweets through outlets such as CNN and Fox News reporting incorrect information. The USC article believes that print media will be dead in the next 5 years and I don't know if I agree. A lot of people still enjoy getting the morning paper and it's something I can't see being done away with completely. I can see it being downsized to only 2 or 3 times a week, which is what my local paper (The Birmingham News) has done and it seems to strike a good balance and would be a good option without entirely eliminating print media.
It's interesting to see what the next few years hold and to see if we continue on the digital path or return to a more traditional way of getting the news.
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