The topic of discussion yesterday was ‘should we pay for newspapers.’ It started as a comment on a friend’s post - http://on.fb.me/HMuStd - and soon became a good discussion with two to three of us exchanging views in quick succession. It might take quite a few years more when we can altogether forget newspapers. The vast majority of the newspaper readers especially in smaller towns consider the internet and anything digital to be amorphous. For them, it is a daily routine to skim through daily newspapers at a public library and engage in a long discussion. Not to forget the ‘chai’ that would provide the much required ‘energy’ to such discussions. The joy one derives out of such activities is incomparable. This is in fact a standard response one would elicit about such a topic, especially with elders.
Well, sounds frivolous, isn’t it? As the use of web proliferates, shrinking the world, we will no longer witness such lengthy and worldly discussions. Instead, we will increasingly see people with a hand-held device wedged between the shoulder and the ear, in a never ending conference call or always pretending to be working and then discussing the same with others who has absolutely no connection on the subject. Some others will be peering on sleek devices, often appearing to be picking up 'whatever' from it. A few sophisticated ones will do all this with a fluoroscent blue light blinking from a tiny device fixed in the year.What is more, in our quest towards personalization, we will end up consuming only what we want, and whenever we want and that too all alone. Now imagine the impact of the web as it spreads into the remotest of towns. Families and friends will be together, but separated by different devices.
And, in the absence of discussions about daily news over a ‘chai’, people running newspapers will be left with no constructive feedback on what they write. Journalists will write junk, which we will consume for free.
