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Jaywalking Through Life? You probably have seen Jay Leno's feature, "Jaywalking," where he interviews people on the street asking them questions like, "Who was the first president of the United States?" and getting answers like, "I don't know. Was it Benjamin Franklin?" How much is cool to know and where do you get your information? If someone started the rumor at your job that you are an intellectual you could be ruined. Today there is the unending barrage of information--and there's also the information backlash--that's people who are often as proud of what they don't know as what they know. People are often as proud of what they don't know as what they know. There is an infinite amount of information available and you can choose to know or not to know. |
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And where do you get your information? In the long-ago 1980's we made a bee-line for the front yard to pick up the paper to read the headlines and the funnies. Newspapers had a monopoly on fast-breaking detailed information, much more so than television. It's incredible that 20 years later many national newspapers are in trouble.
Is paper dead?
Some people believe it's as out of date as scrolls were two thousand
years ago. Many futurists believe that the ease, efficiency,
availability and cost of online sources will make paper obsolete.
Others are very much of the opinion that paper is here to stay and
will assume a comfortable and profitable relationship with online
materials.
The following are from a survey that BizWatchOnline.com did of its
readers in September, summarizing where you get your
information--from paper or online--and how you use information.
One reader made a very valuable comment that the survey does not
reflect age. BizWatch Readers range from mid sixties to
mid-thirties with the median age being in their 50s. This
because these are the ages of our senior executives and managers.
To view the complete survey, please click
here.
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Question number 9 is open-ended and was extensively answered. We have included a few sample responses below. To see all of the responses and the survey, please click here.
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No, paper will not die; it is a low tech necessity & nitch. Print has utility, but will not see a resurgence. There will be a resurgence. Eventually "no good deed goes unpunished" and when folks start charging for internet, the printed word will make a comeback. I do not want to see printed word disappear but I feel it will diminish. I think there will always be some form of printed word. Many of us still like the feel of holding a book or flipping thru newspaper/magazines! I believe the use of paper to disseminate information and news is declining, but it will be a very long time if ever before it goes away. I don't see a resurgence of the printed word. Research and communication is easier and certainly faster, through online venues. As for entertainment, Books will not lose their place in life, as those that are voracious readers will not settle in at the end of the day with a laptop in bed or their favorite reading chair. In addition, Baby Boomer's eyesight is fatigued after facing computer glare most of the work day. There is nothing more relaxing than a good book and a good glass of wine at the end of the day. There is not a laptop that can make that claim. As for audio books, they are enjoyable as you travel, but once again, it is the ability to enjoy the richness of a tale through the written word. Faster is better. Until telepathy replaces the internet, we will become more dependent on cyberspace and less on the written words. Technology and ecology will drive it that way too. The internet is not only faster, it utilizes fewer of our natural resources You forgot one very important questions in your survey. As a matter of fact, I question what what you could learn from this survey not having asked this question: what is my age? I would have argued that computer screens would never replace the readability of ink on paper, until I looked at Amazon's Kindle reader. Now, I believe that, just as IPods/MP3 players have supplanted CD's and vinyl, portable screens may replace a majority of paper I feel that newspapers will be a thing of the past, all the information will be gleaned from the internet. Once the current older generations passes on, the baby boomers will continue go to the internet for updates....and then to our younger people who barely read much less spell will not remember what the printed news was.....the times they are changing. A fast death. I have even considered tossing my home library accumulated over a lifetime. About the only time I buy a newspaper is for reading on an airplane or perhaps free USA Today from the hotel. In addition to the convenience of internet the cost is right. as a book collector and book lover -- and newpaper fanatic -- and at my age! -- I do not believe it will diminish in importance for ME, but my grown kids rarely read the paper. |
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