Newspapers – More Like Nuisance-papers (I am so sorry…)

This post is about how I do not enjoy reading traditional print newspapers. (Gosh, talk about kicking an industry while it’s down…) I prefer to read my news on screens, be it phones, tablets or laptops.

Here are some reasons why:

  • Cost. I would rather suffer online ads than spend a loonie for the physical thing, which also has ads.  After all, I tend only to buy reading material I want to collect – and my paper mache days are behind me. (This is an obvious, unexciting reason, but still important.)
  • Ease of use. This is a big factor. Trying to read traditional, folding newspaper – the ones that fold out to the size of a small continent (feel free to add the formal term for them in the comments, if you know it off the top of your head – is it broadsheets?) – can be cumbersome to read. Sections fall out, strange creases develop, and everybody standing next to you on a packed subway car is looking at you like you’re a demon when you try to expand it and fold it over to a new section (an reaction to which I’m sympathetic). Even after I cull out the “Sports” section, a weekend newspaper is not ideal for travelling. I think it’s telling that non-traditional newspapers like NOW and 24 and Metro are bound like magazines, making them much more user friendly insofar as they are travel friendly. But even those publications are gigantically cumbersome compared to a reading surface that fits in the palm of your hand for consuming news during rush hour on the TTC. That’s why I prefer to read news on my smartphone.
  • I sometimes get ink smudges on my hands and then they get all over my face – alas…