Why Paper Is Eternal - Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press ...

But something is also missing. The various properties, from the physical
to the philosophical, that paper brings to the media transaction are absent when
one is reading a newspaper online. Common sense suggests this shouldn’t
matter. Who cares how content arrives as long as it arrives? But common sense
doesn’t account for the many subtle ways a medium can remain useful despite,
and even because of, competition from other technologies. “Tools fight back
when they offer people worthwhile resources that may be lost if they are swept
away,” write Brown and Duguid. 89
Millions of people still pay money every day for newspapers, though they
can obtain the same content online. One of the most commonly heard
explanations for this is that it’s a generational issue: Those who still prefer
hard-copy newspapers are, like the sentimental older journalists who write
nostalgic columns about paper, just attached to the medium they grew up with.
It’s true that the demographics of newspaper subscribers have been growing
older for years. But older people are not immune to the tremendous value of
the Web, which they use in huge numbers. “Surfing Net is Top Pastime for
Elderly,” said a recent headline in the British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph.
The story was based on a survey of retired people in 11 countries conducted by
the insurance company AXA. It found that spending time online has surpassed
do-it-yourself work and gardening as the most popular hobby for retirees.
Retirees in the United States spend an average of 9 hours per week online, the
most of any of the countries surveyed. 90
On average, young people no doubt spend more time online, not just
reading but communicating with friends. But then, it’s only natural that a
medium offering exciting new possibilities for self-expression and human
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