The necessity of paper newspapers
Newspapers are tanking http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2008/12/11/OpinionColumns/List-Of.Bankrupt.Newspapers.Grows-3577677.shtml ,http://brighthall.aol.com/2008/12/08/newspapers-going-under-bailout-unlikely/ in this economy, while Boomers are starting to use teen-oriented social networking sites such as Facebook, more and more. I love paper newspapers. And Iove my computer and the internet as well. I'll soon have a Facebook site. My teen has offered to show me how to set one up.
Many uses of paper newspaper
With the democratization of media, post-modern and deconstrutionist analysis taught in the academy, (as I have done), and globalization, technologies like paper newspapers are old-fashioned. But to me the paper format has its special and unique characteristics. You can fold it up and carry it.You can wrap your sandwiches in it and drain bacon on it. You can use it as mulch in your garden, as I do. You can wrap presents with it and crumple it as packing material. If you clip an article, you might discover an even more interesting article on its reverse.
But best of all you can read it walking, sitting, on the train, plane, and bus. You can flip through it, and read several stories at the same time. You can forage through a paper, like browsing library shelves. Reading a paper newspaper is a mobile, whole brain, fully sensate experience. And then of course there is the trustworthiness of the reporting.
Hooray for the internet for Boomers
Yet, the internet offers some amazing advantages that paper newspapers can never do. Blogs such as this one give their mostly amateur writers a channel for expression that is unriveled. But I do not pretend that it is more than it is. I have my voice, a certain level of knowledge in particular areas, and good research skills. Hopefully this blog is helpful and interesting. But in some fundamental ways, blogs can never substitute for paper newspapers, even those that are as good as www.huffingtonpost.com.
Retired and refiring on the internet
While younger readers turn more and more to the internet for knowledge and information, we older readers are turning more and more to it for socializing. Retired and Wired today on RLTV http://www.rl.tv/shows/Retired-and-Wired/ pointed to more Boomers gaining familarity with social networking sites like Facebook and My Space, a trend that gives the creeps to some teens. But as younger boomers come to retirement age, what ever and when ever that will be, more and more of them will already have the computing skills and the comfort to fully use all forms of technology.
I just hope that we can keep paper news alive as well as connecting with the web.
