2010 – remember it? Will and Kate weren’t married, some unfortunate miners in Chile were stuck in a hole, and the first iPad was released – adding fuel to the fire of the Print versus Digital debate.
Many people feel surprisingly passionate for their respective sides. It’s a debate of which I have sat firmly on both sides at one point or another – largely due to being a cantankerous blighter who enjoys putting opposing opinions across.
It’s also a debate that shows no signs of abating, possibly because both media refuse to die out.
Well, to all you iPad’s-a-fad, what’s-a-Google technophobes, with your “there’s nothing like the feel of a good book”, I have news for you – you are wrong.
But, get this – all you future-gazing, paper-is-so-last-year iGeeks with your ‘user-experience’ and your ‘operating systems’ – you are wrong too.
Digital isn’t the future. Print isn’t dead. Both are very much here and now – and I would be very surprised if they aren’t for quite some time.
Actually, to say you are wrong is perhaps a little harsh (see earlier cantankerous comment) – it would be equally fair to say you are both right.
I’m a huge tech nerd. I have a first generation iPad (I didn’t know why I wanted one at the time, and still don’t, but I do know I love the thing). I’ve been known to queue for the newest iPhone, and by jove, when the iWatch is announced, if I’m not near the front of that line, there will be words!
But I’m also something of a stationery obsessive. I have an inordinate number of notebooks of varying shapes, sizes, textures and purposes, I love a good magazine, and when having something printed there’s a huge thrill to be had in choosing the weight and coating of the paper.
As a very small, but representative study, I’m writing this while on a train. The study population (my table) comprises: an older gentleman reading a Kindle and listening to an iPod; a young lady reading a paperback; a middle-aged chap who poked at his iPad for a few moments, then placed a copy of Private Eye on top and started reading; and myself, writing on my laptop to you, dear reader, listening to old blues songs on my iPod (the decline of modern music is a debate for another day).
And do you know what? We’re all getting along swimmingly. Not one of the print readers has tried to burn us digital users for witchcraft, nor have we mocked them for their Victorian sensibility. It’s almost like it didn’t matter. Weird!
Happily, this translates comfortably into what we do. The digital world can merrily coexist with the traditional world of print. Both are relevant. Digital can be immediate – breaking news on blogs and Twitter, the ability to update a resource without having to recall printed copies. Print is less prone to straining one’s eyes, it’s cheaper to buy a magazine than an iPad, and whether we like it or not printed items are more engaging. Plus – who’s going to read an iPad in the bath?
I may be wrong. Feel free to quote this post while you clout me about the head with your rolled up copy of The Telegraph – Kindle edition, when they shut down the presses. But I think my head is safe from clouting, and your Kindle safe from rolling for a while yet.