There are things that I still like about bricks & mortar. When I started Logic Solutions 13 years ago, most people could barely spell website. I remember that the first public talk that I gave was to tell people what a website was, how to make one, what it is used for, etc. I predicted that the internet would replace a lot of what we were used to. Logic Solutions was started based on that belief.
Well, sometimes I wonder if I really want to believe in my own prediction. Recently, our local newspaper, The Ann Arbor News, shocked the community by announcing that it will cease operation in July after 174 years of operation. Although both Seattle and Denver newspapers made similar announcements a few weeks ago, I still can’t accept that I soon won’t have The Ann Arbor News to hold in my hand everyday. What replaces The News will be annarbor.com which is mainly an on-line only media site. I found it funny that I was arguing with my wife about why the newspaper must exist when I am the one who always buys the latest gadgets and runs a business that grew out of the internet era.
I told my wife that there are so many things that internet based news media cannot do. I often fall to sleep with the paper on my chest. There is always a newspaper in our bathroom where the laptop is prohibited. We have all kinds of newspaper clips of my children from different events as they have grown up. Every time I take a long trip to Asia, I carry a bag of newspapers (The Ann Arbor News and The Wall Street Journal among them) to accompany me all the way to China.
With an iPhone at hand all the time and one of the lightest laptops available, I am still pondering how I am going to replace all the things that I love about newspapers. My wife said, “When was the last time that you saw me read a newspaper?” She reads The Ann Arbor News, Asashi Daily (Japanese) and Sinanet (Chinese), all exclusively on line.
Sounds like that at some point, I will have to move on, like my wife did some time ago.