PICAYUNE — One of life’s pleasures is to leisurely wake up in the morning, cradle a great cup of coffee and plunge into a fat newspaper.

Am I an endangered species?

Experts, Quacks, Historians, and business tycoons are all in a tizzy debating the future of print media. These same dudes were probably sitting around discussing the future of radio when television came along.

It is true; the younglings have all their tech savvy gadgets, some never perusing a newspaper unless needing a quick current event. The younglings might take a peek at the printed page if their name or photo was captured for some highlighted event, hopefully not a mug shot. Do they even cut their photos out for sentimental value anymore? Stick it in a scrapbook or pin up on a personal bulletin board in their room? We did, didn’t we?

I was digging through my high school memorial scrapbook, which is falling apart due to age. I gathered all the newspaper clippings and put them in a folder to protect their antiquity. Maybe I should find an ark like in Biblical days to protect the sacred ancient text?

The aged clippings reveal not just stuff centered around myself, which proves I wasn’t as self centered as I thought, but included my friends who happen to show up in the local newspaper. I cut those out too. I gave value to being in the paper.

It use to be a big deal. Why have the sentiments of my generation not translated to our next generation? As a mom, are we making a big deal out of our babies in the paper anymore? We should.

The local newspaper is not just about news. It can not compete with all the instant coverage of internet sites and cable television which offer 24/7 free flowing doses for the news junkie. Can too much news be a good thing? Do we really need to know about every murder, every celebrity adulterer, every car crash, and every lying Politician?

Reading the local newspaper is about an experience. It is about your community, your town, your street and your back yard. Journalists from CNN could care less if the local school board decided to paint the school purple for no apparent reason, or that the downtown businesses are putting on a street fair. It is about learning what is on sale at your local shop, the local car dealership, and who was buried and married. Does Fox News care about spats between the sheriff and the head of the local ladies group? (Please note these scenarios are purely fictional) Does ESPN care if Picayune gets more coverage in sports than PRC or that PRC gets more coverage than Picayune’s sports? (Both sides grumble the same grumble.)

My son got a Kindle for Christmas. For all you non-geeks, that is a flat, cold metallic screen that serves as a host for zillions of books. Instead of the smell of a good, dead tree “paper” book, this futuristic metal device can perform instantaneous tasks and even mimics page turning. And it smells like plastic.

 Can I snuggle up with something so distant and aloof? There is something about the feel of a book that makes me feel good. He loves his digital book that you can buy a subscription to hundreds of newspapers and poof! He can read the Washington Post or buy a book from Barnes and Nobles and poof! He is reading Lord of the Rings. Yeah, but unplug it for a day or two and see how much you can read!

I like to look at my favorite books, dusty but magnificently standing proud on my bookshelves, on display telling all who pay visit what type of reader I am, thereby telling what kind of person I am. Again, am I the one who is fading into the sunset because I like paper?

These cold forms of media can not serve as pick up reading at your local doctor’s office. Although many waiting rooms stick a television in the corner playing instant news, I still gravitate to the colorful magazine displays, their headlines beckoning me to read. You can’t do that with online media.

What about the kid’s projects where they cut up magazines for crafts in school or Vacation Bible  School? Yes, there are lots of beautiful images online, but you still have to print them, to glue them into collages!

As a magazine editor, I know the value of the visual. I appreciate in my down time to open a magazine and be pulled in to photos, captured by their beauty or their story.

 We have seen the power of the photo through Time magazine. Photos in print can pack a powerful punch. I recall the photo of the Oklahoma bombing and how I cried when I saw on the front page of the newspaper, the image of a young child lying limp in the arms of a dusty, disheveled fireman. Powerful. Online, they put multiple photos, a series of shots, flashing advertising on the side, distracting me from the one image and the message.

We all can name photos of such historic importance that in print media made us stop and feel something.

As we all use digital cameras, many are failing to print the images we now store on our computer devices which can be lost, corrupted, or deleted. Who takes the time to just sit and look at the photos on the computer screen?

I like to pull out a photo album once in awhile and remember the people, the experience captured in the shot, or the place I visited. But to do this, we must remember to print our photos. It’s a great activity when the electricity goes out!

Print media working in sync with online media can open up a new field of fans for the local newspaper and even specialized magazines. I can easily share my column via social networks, my website, and even through a list of e-mail fans who can click-click and they are reading my words. Whereby, living in Seattle like my good friend Karen, would never be able to read My Hometown Column because she doesn’t subscribe to the Picayune Item way up there. Why would she? Now she can link up to the Item and read, so can Lori in Key West, Keith in Illinois, and Kim in Lake  Placid, New York. They are all viewing my article because of the online connection.

The new age of digital media will not replace completely print media, but if working together, both can fill their purpose and succeed.

As for now, enjoy the black ink on your fingertips, the hard work of talented folks who put the product of a newspaper out, and appreciate that you can embrace both worlds of media.

After all, things don’t have to be replaced as they age, just refined.

 

Tracy Williams is syndicated columnist and can be reached at her website: myhometowncolumn.com or become a fan on Facebook at My Hometown Column.