In this age of technology, how long are news… papers going to last?
Back in the day, newspapers were the only form of media. Everything was presented on a huge piece of thin paper. Then came radio, and fewer newspapers were sold, because everyone got their news from the radio. However, the newspaper remained the primary news source. Then came television, and everything began to fall apart. When people wanted news, they would turn on the TV at 6pm and get their daily update. The people didn’t even need the TV and just looked on Google for the updates they need every once in a while. And now, with social media, it's hard not to be exposed to news, so how are the papers still being sold?
Well, now in the days of instant news, when the only reason many people buy newspapers is to fuel their fires, is there anyone who reads them? The answer is old people. They grew up with newspapers and for some, it’s the only way they know how to get news.
This is the problem with the future of newspapers. Many old people cannot use the internet or the TV, they just go out to the shop and buy the paper. However, they will eventually die, and the generation growing up now will grow up knowing how to use technology where you can access the internet and news online. This means that however more advanced tech is in the future, when today's children grow old, they would be able to access news without a newspaper.
So, what does this mean? Put simply, it means that at some point, not enough people will buy newspapers. Sure, there’ll still be customers: people who like ‘the old way of doing things,’ and those people with fireplaces. But this isn’t enough to print copies of newspapers when they could just as easily be published online. Personally, I think that newspapers will not survive past the 21st century. But I don’t know what the future holds, so who knows.
