Newspapers, not only if you’ve run out of bogroll

I used to deliver newspapers when I was young. That paper was the Evening Post . Some here ago, with the increasing influence of the internet and  the increase flow of information, that newspaper had to amalgamate with it’s morning edition, The Dominion to become the Dominion Post. But having lived overseas in a non-English speaking environment for so long that the one thing I missed while being away was reading a newspaper. It’s the tactile experience of  it all. The smell of the news ink, the feel of the newsprint on your fingers and if it had been wet, the time you had to wait to let it dry by the heater after it had been brought in from the outside on a rainy day. Sometimes, I’d take care to peel  the pages apart least they tear. I’d read the newspaper more than once. The first ‘pass’ would be through the major headlines, and anything of interest. This usually meant also reading the back page and the cartoons.  Then back through the a paper to read anything I’d missed. In comparison, reading ‘the news’ online  is different. Mostly one medium of communication, the experience of reading the news has changed. Indeed, a friend of mine said that research had found that people remembered less when reading an electronic book over a real one. The reason was tactile and, the researchers had found that people remember events and facts and placed them with where they were in the book. There will always be a place for printed books but, I think that technology has moved ahead and that society has turned a page.