I’ll admit it. Sometimes, I’m not the biggest fan of change. Sure, change can often be good and sweet is its taste after battles have been fought to get there. But other times, change is like a whirling tornado, uprooting the landscape as we know it and leaving us scrambling to keep up.

You may have heard that Radio & Records Magazine abruptly shut down operations yesterday after 36 years. I received my usual daily industry briefing email from them in the morning with no hint of what was coming. By that afternoon, the staff was gone, the website down and lots of heads were shaking with the realization that radio and records (as an industry) will never be the same.

R&R is just the latest casualty in the print media collapse. It’s never been more clear that we are on a path that’s quickly favoring the immediacy and environmentally friendly nature of the web. But what seemed like a good thing at first really has me wondering lately. Sometimes evolving technology seems to take us backward instead of forward in many respects. In this case, our choices on how we read information are becoming more limited which seems very anti-21st century when you think about it.

I don’t know about you but I get tired of computer screens. I read off of them all day long. My eyes often get bloodshot and fuzzy as a result of this necessary evil, which my optometrist told me there’s really nothing I can do about, save for a few eye drops here and there.  Print media has always a welcome break for this set of eyes. A way to unwind outside, in bed, or even while answering nature’s call. (TMI?) And honestly, the thought of having to lug my laptop out onto the deck with my coffee and make sure the battery is charged and the glare from the sun isn’t blinding my reading just seems… frustrating. (Side note – good invention idea – a laptop sun visor)

As I get older, I realize how set in my ways I am. I’m not as fluid as I should be. I get annoyed at being inconvenienced and it turns into blogs like these. Maybe a healthy perspective would include something about how blessed I am to have the immediacy of the internet at my fingertips. Because it’s true, it really does enhance my quality of life in so many ways. But as change continues to happen, both good and rotten, I’m really beginning to appreciate why the old-timers eyes always lit up when they began a story with “back in the good old days…”