Almost every evening I spend a little time reading a magazine. I call it "relax and refresh" time. Often, I read them in a big cushy chair, with my feet up. Sometimes, the reading doesn't start until I jump in bed about 11 PM. My feet are up then, too. But I never read them on a computer. Heaven forbid -- especially after staring at a screen all day long at the office. That would be torture.
I subscribe to, and read, many magazines -- including National Geographic, Wired, ADWEEK, Ad Age, Creativity, One, Fast Company, Inc,The Ensign, Time, Journal of Advertising Research, Communication Arts, Archive, ADNEWS, Community, Dwell, Graphis and several others that I can't remember at the moment.
So when my eye caught an ad headlined, "We surf the Internet, we swim in magazines," I paused, nodded, and began to scour the body copy. Here's what I read:
"The Internet is exhilarating. Magazines are enveloping. The Internet grabs you. Magazines embrace you. The Internet is impulsive. Magazines are immersive. And both media are growing."
After all the hullabaloo about how all mediums are dying due to the Internet, I was surprised and rather comforted to note that fact. I continued reading.
"During the 12-year life of Google, magazine readership actually increased by 11 percent. What it proves, once again, is that a new medium doesn't necessaily displace an existing one. Just as movies didn't kill radio. Just as TV didn't kill movies. Which is why peoople aren't giving up swimming, just because they also enjoy surfing."
I say Amen, and Amen. I spend a fair amount of time on the Internet, but for a more luxurious, relaxing, comfortable, enjoyable, learning experience, I prefer the good, old, pages-in-your-hand magazine. Too bad you have to read this blog on a computer screen.
