The Financial Times recently has said that the world is going to end in 5 years!  Not the total world, but the print world for newspapers and magazines.  Their rationale is that rising newsprint costs, delivery costs, declining subscriptions will lead to an inevitable end to ‘print’ as we know it today.

All of these things have been ongoing for years, especially newsprint costs which continually ebb and spike, but the ebb just isn’t as good as it used to be.  As a ‘print guy’ I’m certainly sad to see this happen – and I do agree, it is going to happen.  The only difference for me is that I don’t have a calendar, at least a printed one, on which I can mark in a date.  I’m know firmly in the computer arena and keep all of my calendars (yes there are more than one) on my computer – color coded too boot!

Not to stop there, I also synch those calendars with my iPhone, original model – day two in San Francisco, 2007.  I need my calendars to beep at me and drive me through my days.  I guess a big part of it is that I live on line – my business is online – my news is now online – my entertainment is online!  Now we understand why print is declining.

Along with the FT, many other media are turning off the printing presses and heading online.  The Seattle Post Intelligencer stopped printing and went online in 2009.  The Christian Science Monitor dropped its print edition in 2009 as well.

The final nail in the coffin for print may have come from Apple.  Their iPhone, and now the iPad have created a whole new way to display information.  Google has jumped on board with their Android systems and bringing up the rear in this area as well – and may not stay in the rear for long.

I will miss printed papers, but I can survive without them.  Too bad they can’t survive without us.  I won’t miss the ink on my fingers, however.