Sunday, June 23, 2013

I think I miss the good ole days

I am still a newspaper reader, and I'm not afraid to admit that.  I like to spread out the paper when I eat breakfast.  I like how it folds neatly on my lap when I sit on the couch or poolside with coffee.  I like to use a pencil to work the crossword puzzle, and don't even get me started on the many uses newspaper has when reading in the bathroom.  That being said, one of the things I hate about newspapers is all of the turning to different pages to finish reading a story.  Who came up with that one?  I've never understood why papers and magazines feel the need to make us turn to different pages, several pages away from the beginning, to finish the story.  Yes, yes, I know it has something to do with placement and enticement, but seriously, those of us who read newspapers will read them no matter all that other garbage.  I just really hate having to search to finish the article.  It is always placed on a page with several other half finished articles and no matter the placement of titles I always seem to finish halfway through before realizing I'm on the wrong article and no wonder that made no sense.

Now blogs are doing this weird search for the article nonsense, and frankly, it has caused me to stop reading certain blogs.  I want to check in on the blogs I read daily, but that isn't always easy to do and so I try to do it at least once a week.  That being the case I want to start where I left off and work my way back up the screen to present day.  One of the blogs I've read for years has changed and no matter how much I try to navigate the site I can not find articles past those that appear on the screen in tiny bubbles that I have to click on just to pull up the full story.  There is no consistency to the order of articles anymore, and I hate it. 

Then there is the whole mobile device sites now days that these devices insist that you use.  If I try to go to a site on my Iphone while at a store to check for coupons, another screen always pops up first telling me, suggesting to me, or asking me to download the mobile app.  I have so many apps on my mobile device now that I never use.  Why would I want to add another one when all I really want is a coupon?  Or that week's ad?  Which is why I still insist on a newspaper because those coupons and ads are in there.  I just couldn't find them to cut them out because they wanted me to turn umpteen pages and I SERIOUSLY LOST IT. 

My husband has been talking about getting rid of the newspaper because our subscription is up and they want $200 for us to renew it for a year.  Mr. Computer Man wants me to download the newspaper app (which I admitted I already had) and read my daily dose of murder and mayhem on my Ipad.  I think he is going to renew, however, when I asked him what to do when I run out of toilet paper.

2 comments:

Jay Brewer said...

I've switched to Flipboard and Feedly for all of my reading needs. If you have an iPad these are the best and there are also lots of other news readers that will make your browsing and reading fun. I guess it won't replace your paper - but if they produce RSS feeds it's really good. Another one I use is News Me. It goes through my twitter and facebook feed and all the articles people post it puts it into an email for the next morning to peruse. http://www.news.me

cmkerwin said...

Thanks Jay, I'll have to check them out. Also, I think you teaching an app class at Christmas for all of us would be a great activity!