I am about to sit down and read this story in the Sunday edition of The New York Times. The general question is whether or not reading online is anywhere near productive and beneficial as reading a book or any other longform writing. Can today’s youth get the same benefit from reading 500-600 stories online as they can reading an entire book?
The humor I’ve found (I have yet to read the article) is two separate discussions I’ve had since I first found out about the article.
The first was with my father – I pointed the story out to him and told him I was headed to Starbucks to get a coffee and a copy of the paper. His response? “Why can’t you just read it online?” Hah!
I then went to Starbucks and ordered a grande latte and a copy of The New York Times. The total amounted to more than $9. I had no idea a Sunday NYT cost $5. The girl in the drive thru asked me if I still wanted it and I told her I did, as there was a story I really wanted to read and I would pay $5. Her response? “Why don’t you just read it online?” Double hah!
Reading online still has yet to replace print and I don’t think it ever will. Print may not be ‘print’ as we know it today. The arrival of Amazon’s Kindle and other similar devices will change the way we receive news. Still sitting down in front of a monitor with the itchy trigger finger on the mouse means I’ll never make it through a story of this length, some 300 inches, via Internet Explorer. I’ll need newsprint to do that.
Now the question is what will I finish first, my story or my Starbucks?
Update: I finished the story first. It’s a good read…online or in print…and I recommend it.
