The eternal debate: Is print dying?

An obvious answer you would hope to hear from a journalist: No. The answer you might hear from the general population nowadays might be a little murkier.

Honestly, there have been a lot of adaptations for journalists as well as businesses all over the country when we talk about multimedia including photos, social media, videos and the world wide web. But I think it all comes down to the consumers you have.

In my world, I have basically figured there are three types of news consumers.

1. People who love digital and hate having a paper copy of anything
2. People who read both, whether they choose digital first or paper first
3. People who only read the paper and are not on the WWW

The reason print isn't dead yet: People love to hold something in their hands, and they like the way it looks. A lot of people feel like they look at the screen enough and don't want to read on the computer any more than they have to already. Plus they can hang it on the refrigerator.

The reason people love digital: It's the speed at which is can be received and often free information though social media or similar means. You must love it, or you wouldn't be reading my blog right now. I could go on and on about my love for digital media, but, I'd just be preaching to the choir.

Personally, here are my thoughts on digital verses print: We will at some point switch to a completely digital age, in fact, we are on the way now.

People are buying movies for digital streaming, they are reading the news via twitter and they are shopping online because it is convenient.

I like to view the design of a newspaper, but I like to view it in digital newspaper format where it's no mess and no fuss. I appreciate the original look of a paper, but I don't like having my hand covered with news print stains and somehow when I have paper copies, I never get around to reading them.

Somehow, it seems easier to just look it up on my computer, since I am on it half the day anyways for work. Of course, being in the news business, and having a very digital based job, I can see where I am probably on my computer 10x more than someone who works at a car dealership, someone who is a construction worker, or something along those lines.

So, whether you are a print media consumer or a digital consumer, either way I am glad you read the news and try to stay informed in one way or another.

Now to people who think they can ignore the shift, well you are just being naive. Eventually digital will reign over print, in fact, that day and age is basically upon us. You can either sink or swim in this digital sea which relates to all industries including education, sales or even being an informed stay at home mom. So, embrace it, or be left out in the ocean without a raft. It's up to you, but sooner or later your arms are going to get tired. I am betting on sooner.