Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Monday 8 July 2013

Still ploughing through the last bits of Saturday's multi-supplement newspaper (I bought it, so I owe it to myself to get my money's worth), it occurs to me - once print newspapers have become whatever they're going to be as the internet develops, how different will the reading experience be?

When it takes a bit of effort to work out the logic of how the stories are organised on a website or an app, and seeing only a fairly truncated part of any one story at any one time, what happens to the compulsion to try to take it all in? How involved can you feel when there are an unlimited number of (often moronic) comments to plough through?

I can't say I've compared any one print edition with the internet equivalent, but the latter certainly feels like thinner, less engaging, gruel. And it's no good for any of the things waste paper can be used for.

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