With improvements in technology and the internet, gadgets have now become part of our daily life routine. They are slowly getting rid of and replacing other non digital common household products. For example, phones now have in built digital Clocks and alarms which are nowadays more often used compared to the original physical alarm clocks. Additionally phones now come with in built compasses, calendars, radios and calculators. Coming to the topic, along with such changes, the news reading experience has now drastically changed with apps such as google news providing you access to free online news articles and headlines, nevertheless, is this really a viable alternative to newspapers?
Firstly, when it comes to cost, E-papers are a clear winner with most articles being free of cost to read, this also appeals to a wider group of audience, whereas newspapers usually around 5-15 rupees, however i don’t feel like this is as big as an advantage as 5 rupees is something almost anyone can afford, especially for knowledge.
Secondly, E-papers are usually personalised depending on the persons interest, for example if a reader clicks on a certain genre of news more than another genre, that particular genre will be more prominent in the persons feed and it may be difficult to find generalised news, whereas newspapers contain standard generalised news that can never be personalised as they are made to appeal to all audiences, in my opinion i take this as an advantage of newspapers as i feel reading more of generalised news can keep you updated with all sorts of things improving your general knowledge and awareness.
Additionally, the aesthetics of the two may seem very different and to some people it may not seem like big deal but i feel that it has a great impact on the overall experience. I personally prefer newspapers because having a physical copy of it in your hand just seems so satisfying compared to reading something out of a monotone, white screen on your phone or laptop, that’s also why i prefer paperback books over e-books at anytime or anyplace as i personally feel that the aesthetics are paramount for a more pleasant experience. Moreover, a lot of the times when people read newspapers and books for reasons other than the knowledge gaining factors, its because they usually want to get a break from their screens, however, when you read an e-book, it breaks the whole purpose of looking at something other than a screen which is also another important secondary reason.
To conclude, i personally prefer physical newspapers over e-papers and the more i see e-papers being preferred over hard copies, the more it saddens me as i feel that one day maybe they may become obsolete and we may view them as a thing of the past like so many of the other memorable products like typewriters and film rolls.