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Magazine's final chapter is another blow for print
Mike Crutchley • 7 July 2020
Will we eventually have a world where everything is digital?
News this week that my favourite magazine is no more got me thinking about the decline of print and whether we will reach the point where all publications are purely digital.
Life on the superhighway
We spend most of our lives in front of computer screens, mobile phones and tablets for work, shopping and entertainment.
With Big Brother following our every online move through smart speakers and algorithms, tech giants use our internet habits to constantly persuade us to spend our next pound with them.
And almost everything posted on social media will generate a response, positive or negative.
You can read pretty much every book and magazine online, but I love to escape the hi-tech world by picking up a printed copy and enjoying some me time.
Interruptions
One of the problems I find with trying to read anything on a tablet or PC is the endless barrage of notifications. It’s so easy to become distracted, especially if it’s work.
Writing this, so far I have received alerts from LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Facebook Messenger, half-a-dozen emails and two text messages. And now YouTube and Instagram have just got in on the act.
Even if it is not an email or message I need to reply to, it seems that every couple of minutes I am being kept up to date of who liked which post, who shared something, or whether an obscure garden ornament I clicked on by mistake still of interest.
When you have had enough of the eyes and ears of the world watching everything you do, how do you get away from it? When was the last time you managed to switch off and enjoyed reading something printed on paper?
Interests
Photography has been a passion of mine for more than 25 years and my family have put up with me lugging bulky equipment around on holidays and days out.
When I am not out with the camera, I enjoy delving into photography magazines, keeping up to date with the latest developments (!), techniques, and the latest equipment that costs the same price as a car.
So when July’s edition of Practical Photography arrived through the letterbox, I couldn’t wait to step away from the hi-tech lockdown world and dive into the peace of print.
But I was shocked to discover that this would be the final edition of the long-running publication, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last year.
Stop the press
Its demise got me thinking once again about the future of print media. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, newspapers and magazines were struggling for both advertising and sales.
There are huge costs associated with producing them, not only in terms of the press, paper and ink, but also transportation from the printing site, as well as the cost of distributing to outlets.
But they offer something unique and there is still a demand for them. In fact, the appetite for news and information has arguably never been greater.
But, dwindling advertising revenue, amplified by the pandemic, has accelerated the need for decisive action by publishers. Unfortunately for me, the staff, and the thousands of Practical Photography fans, there is no alternative.
The magazine was offered in print and digital format, but I had always resisted the latter, opting for some low-tech respite. Would I prefer digital to nothing at all? Probably, but sadly, it is not a choice I can make.
Surely the future can’t be one without printed books, newspapers and magazines.
Can it?
#practicalphotography #greatmagazines #photography