I got a peek into how people are reading their news, in print
versions or on computers. And computers are winning in this one glance.
Recently, I paid a visit to my daughter's kindergarten class for a
"Donuts for Dad" ceremony, in which the children put on a show,
shared what they do and then gave the dad a donut. (Hope didn't like
my repeatedly calling the event Dads for Donuts, which seemed to
carry more of a political calling. I'm already out of touch.)
Part of the ceremony was for a description of each child's dad to be
read out by the teacher, and for the dads to try to guess which one
was their child's explanation of what dad likes.
I picked out mine, based on having taken her to a basketball game.
One of the questions each child had been asked about their dad was,
What does he do when he gets home. About three or four answered,
Reads the paper.
A few watched TV.
More than a dozen answered, Works on the computer.
I may be wrong, but I'm guessing that in my daughter's class, more
parents are reading their news online than get it in the paper each
day, a trend that's only increasing.
I was happy to hear some are still reading the paper when they get
home, but I know where this is going.
Of course, the two sides do merge often, and last night, I had that
happen as I waited for Hope outside of dance class.
In the hall, one father was talking to two other parents about a
story in that day's edition of The Oakland Press, a story about
students from Troy Athens High School linking up for a discussion
with astronauts at the International Space Station. The man with the
paper noted that a video of the interaction could be seen at the
papers Web site, at which time I decided to join the conversation.