Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Should prints cease to exist

YESTERDAY'S KNOWLEDGE
                 Photo of a print news paper taken from
               http://pacific.scoop.conz/tag/wansolwara 
Each and everyday hundreds of people around the world have adapted the idea of the internet being their main connection to the outside world.  Today more than 300,000,000 United States of America's citizens are using computers on a daily bases.  So why do prints exist and will they continue in the future?  It seems as though many believe that prints will become extinct during our lifetime. 

Bradley Wilson who used to work for Microsoft stated "newspapers will vanish from the market shelves by 2050."  This idea may seem far fetched for some but consider the fact that 48 percent of the people over the age of 68 read the printed newspaper verse, and only 6 percent of the 18-24 age group read the printed news.  These figures show the potential of internet being the main source of communication.

Currently, 12 percent of Americans use only the internet for gathering and reading about the news, this number continues to increase at a rate of 2 percent per year.  The online environment allows people to access information for a cheaper price.  Imagine how much cheaper things would be if you never had to pay for another newspaper, book, magazine or transportation costs for these items.  

Imagine instead of having a room full of books, all your books would be neatly organized in a 1"by 9" reader.  We can conclude that technology is not about to stop evolving and neither are the consumers, do you think prints will cease to exist in 2050?

2 comments:

  1. Looking more likely Ms Heil. I used to prefer reading hard-copies but now I do most of my reading on my laptop. I am now making less prints and learning to carry all the reading materials I need within this gadget.

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  2. A very relevant topic to be discussed, especially for those journalism students looking to go into print. However, I think you could have also discussed the range of arguments debating against the death of print journalism. A lot of online brands eventually turn to print for enhanced marketing and things of the sort. But maybe I'm just biased because I prefer to have the feel of paper in my hands. A cool article nonetheless.

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