My parent’s brought down the Sunday New York Times with them and flipping through it, especially the Arts and Leisure section, is pure joy. I read my news online here, except for the occasional local paper, and on the whole I don’t think I miss anything.
I’m not even a die-hard print only kind of person, but it is a tactical pleasure to have the Arts section in my hands again. To be able to flip through it scanning the headlines. The type in neat ordered rows and the grainy color images punching it all up. I realized it is not merely the act of holding the paper instead of the computer that I like so much–I actually read differently.
I carefully pick and choose everything I read on the internet. This goes from blogs to news, so when I scan the NYT Arts section I only read what I think would be interesting after a 15 second consideration. Apparently that does not include much of what is in this Sunday edition, and perhaps to my detriment. It all looks quite interesting when I have a hard copy in front of me. Maybe if left to my own choices, it’s easier to focus in rather than branch out –not a great quality for learning more about the world around me.
Or maybe this is just nostalgia run riot speaking.
I remember how much I used to enjoy it when family or friends would bring me the NY Times here in Spain, especially the Sunday edition! Of course, that was before internet, but your post does make me think that, web or no web, there is still something in the physical newspaper that appeals to my fetishistic instincts.
Sort of like the long afternoons I would spend in record shops, fondling the vinyls (in a nice way I mean), doting over the liner notes. CDs, Amazon, all the other cyber wonders are great and much more practical, but something has been lost … and not just the ink smears on my fingertips.
My husband and I are newspaper addicts and get the NY Times everyday even tho’ we’re in Seattle. As you say, what you miss when reading only those articles you zero in on online is the serendipity of coming across something amazing that you didn’t even know you’d be interested in when you turned the page.