I was starting to read an article by Robin Good entitled, “How To Be Happy Without Becoming A Monk — 10 Things I Have Changed To Live A More Self-Directed Life,” but got no further than the first item:
Stop Being Dependent-Addicted To Old Media: Drop all time-wasting devices that you do not need anymore to realize your goals: phone, television, newspapers.
I suppose I could go back and read Good’s rationale, but I should end my addiction to these media just because they’re old? OK, phones I could happily do without (except for texting). TV would be harder; I’m less addicted than I used to be, but I still enjoy some viewing.
But regular readers will know that I am a newspaper reader, and my morning newspaper ritual is one of the few non-negotiables of my existence. Does this relaxing ritual of eating my breakfast while reading the newspaper help me realize my goals? I don’t know, but does everything we do have to help us realize our goals? Can’t we sometimes just relax, or vege out in front of the TV?
Things continue to get grimmer and grimmer every day for the newspaper industry. Seems like every day, we read of a new cutback (like the Detroit Free Press cutting home delivery to 3 days a week) or the death of a paper.
The difficult and changing state of newspapers also affects training grounds for journalists. One of the best experiences of my life was the time I spent as a staffer on The Independent Florida Alligator, the paper that serves the University of Florida and Gainesville communities. I felt a wonderful sense of belonging there, learned a ton, met my husband, and brought my infant daughter to work with me in the newsroom.
I recently learned that The Alligator is in crisis. No one applied to be its next editor, the first time in the paper’s history that that happened. I wrote an encouraging note to the staff urging them to hang in there, and recalling my great experience. I cannot tell you how many terrific careers in journalism I have seen launched at The Alligator.
It seemed at first blush that the Alligator staffers and would-be editors were discouraged by very low wages, but the current editor sent a note out to all the alumni like me who had sent cheery notes. Seems money’s not the issue; the problem is the Alligator’s inability to launch journalism careers anymore because of antiquated equipment and insufficient training for the increasingly video- and Web-driven world of newspaper journalism. The Alligator apparently no longer provides the kind of technical training that today’s journalists need. The editor told us that in addition to the no-new-editor-applicants dilemma, the paper is down to just five staffers.
Just as an aside, when I was at The Alligator in the 1980s, we wrote stories — not just on typewriters — but manual typewriters. You would think we would have faced some of the same issues — were we technologically savvy enough to type stories on computers given our training on manual typewriters? I never recall that being an issue. Typing is typing, I guess, while today’s Web and video technologies require more hands-on training.
Sometimes I think the best I can hope for is that newspapers will at least last through the rest of my lifetime. But I’d like them to last longer — or at least morph into a form people like me are comfortable with.
And I want The Alligator to last — to remain the wonderful and valuable experience I had. I want journalism students to see the paper as the top-notch career launchpad it was in “my day.” I don’t think Santa has anything in his bag to solve the paper’s problems this Christmas, but I would like to see what I and other Alligator alumni can do to play Santa to this venerable student-produced paper in 2009.
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I found this posting completely by accident-I'm looking for a job but, let's put that aside for a moment.
I wanted to share something that might be useful to your plight at the moment. I am currently living in the North Texas area-Dallas. Actually I am north of there and our paper is either the Dallas Morning News or a small Sentinel paper. Lately-maybe the past year the DMN has been hit with a huge downsize in circulation and ads. I was wondering how they could survive as well. The outcome has been interesting-They beefed up the online "news" and downsized the printed copy. We now get about 10 pages. We haven't seen a bill so they are delivering it to everyone and perhaps relying on the online ads to support this process. They may have even increased readership by giving away-just the news. I have actually been reading more of the printed version as it is guaranteed to be short and have the headline stories that I will also see on the front page of places like yahoo, msn, and cnn.com, etc. This "giving it away" plan is one that I have seen work very successfully in the past in a different venue. The principle remains the same-first create the habit. Then the charge. I like the shorter version of the news, I read it because it is shorter and I still enjoy the smell of newsprint. The glossy stuffers still appear for the holidays in a separate plastic packet that I can easily open or toss depending on my frame of mind at the moment. I suspect we may see a bill at some point and I may not even mind seeing it. Look at all they GAVE me after all! Good luck and don't take no for an answer! helprhome@yahoo.com
Ah! The manual typewriter. I bought a red Royal manual typewriter in 1967 for $100 of my hard earned money working as a carpenter during the summers for my father. Not only did I type my own term papers, but I wrote most of my poetry on that typewriter for almost 20 years.
I remember when IBM brought out the IBM Selectric typewriter with the little ball that spun around as you typed. It even allowed you to erase mistakes. While I never owned one, it was a key part of my first job as a writer of policy and procedural manuals for a chain of nursing homes. The secretary was the one that did the typing. We gave her our rough drafts and she would type them on the IBM Selectric. When we edited the writing, she would have to retype the material. How the world has changed. Today, we each type are own work and the secretaries have become administrative assistants.
One of those strange facts: Did you know that the keyboard that is used on most computers and typewriters was designed to slow down the typists? In the early days of the typewriter, the typists were too fast for the machines so the keys were placed to slow down the typists.
And one day typing itself may go by the wayside. Software is already available for simply speaking and the computer translates the oral words to the written word. And I believe there is software that translates the handwritten word into typed words. Or how about those fonts that attempt to imitate the hand-written word. The more we change the more we try to stay the same.
In 1984 I traded in my manual typewriter and bought my first desktop computer, an IBM PC Jr. while living and working in Houston, TX, Three months later IBM stopped selling the computer, but I used it for more than 10 years to write my poetry, short stories and novel before I switched to a Mac. And I have not even begun to touch on how desktop publishing has changed the world of newspapers, magazines and books through software like Pagemaker, Indesign, Quark and Ventura.
And what impact has these technological advances had on the writing itself. Some writers believe that they write better when they write by hand. They won't even use a typewriter and certainly not a computer. Wayne Dyer, the best-selling self-help author, still writes all his books by hand. Other writers still swear by their typewriters and won't switch to computers.
I think word processing software and computers have changed how we write. We do less proof-reading of our work. We use and trust spell-check and only later realize our mistakes.
These days I prefer my creative writing to be done in long hand. I think I am more creative when I write by hand. I use the computer for editing and making my material presentable. With my short stories, I will write in long hand, then type the draft into a computer. Then I will even rewrite a second and a third time in long hand.
I worry about what texting will do both to our language and the content of our our writing. The same is true of blogging. Most writers of stories, poetry and novels will sit with their material for weeks, months and years, giving time for the material to be fertilized by experience. Many bloggers write out of the moment with little time spent thinking about the material and rewriting it. Even my writing of this response troubles me because I don't take the time to flesh out my perspective. I write what pops into my mind. And when I reread it, I find mistakes. Still I will send it out into the world only partially developed and hope that others will forgive me.
This entry was so powerful and thought-provoking that I had to come back a second time and comment. Robin Good recommends: "Stop Being Dependent-Addicted To Old Media: Drop all time-wasting devices that you do not need anymore to realize your goals: phone, television, newspapers."
I would take it even further: Drop listening, reading and absorbing anything that fills you with negativity. It is not the media itself that is at fault, but the content of the media. You can find negative information on the internet as easy as you can find it on television or radio or newspapers.
Here is the key: You are in control, not the media. Too often we let the phone, the television, the internet control our lives. We need to take charge. If I am at home, I don't answer the phone unless I want to. I have even learned to tune out the ring of the phone.
Happiness comes from within. External objects, events and people usually have only a temporary impact on our happiness. Happiness is accepting who we are and forgiving ourselves for our mistakes.
Thanks, Harley and Doris, for sharing these thoughts.
Doris, I'm glad your local paper's transformation is working for you. I could probably live with 10 pages of news -- as long as I still got my favorite features, like Dear Abby and the comics. In all reality, I don't read every news story. I scan headlines and read the stories that grab my interest. If my paper went the same way yours has, I'd be OK with it, but I still probably wouldn't read the online portion.
Harley, yes I did know that the QWERTY keyboard was designed to slow typists down because the fear was that the keys would get all tangled up if people typed too fast. I kind of agree with you that we probably write better if we do drafts in longhand and edit as we're rendering those drafts into typed copy -- but I can't do that. I've been a keyboard writer since I was a teen. I hate writing in longhand. I think I would also hate voice-translation writing. There's something about the thought process that accompanies the hand-eye-brain-keyboard operation that enables me to edit as I go and think before I commit words to paper.
I agree that we are sometimes slaves to media. Some media enslave me more than others, but I'm currently OK with my enslavements.