Boomawang

What compels people to read articles online?

What compels people to read articles online?  Is a genuine curiousity for the topic?  A striking headline?  Too much free time?  A release from office work?

Why online?  Before the 21st Century people read newspapers, books, magazines, periodicals(what?), and even letters! GASP!  (The millennials in the audience are wondering what the hell those are!)
The Technological Revolution of the 90’s and Zeroes has made it easier and easier to digest information, but at what cost?  I mean I was ahead of the curve, I read articles on my StarTac ten years ago!

Today people read the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, or US Weekly (lol) on their cell phones, PDAs, laptops, watches?, cars, TVs, Wii’s, who knows what!  It’s a saturation of media, an abundance of information; and often no way of knowing what is true and false.

You read my writing long enough you realize I have a very strange punctuation style (not exactly MLS approved!), I make up words and definitions! (and hope to make up many more!), and basically say whatever I want in a matter of fact way!

I am not alone in this style.  Any kid with a laptop (hiptop, blackberry, or Wii) can write a blog (facebook, myspace, or hack a supercomputer!) and tell the world what they think (and alter Wikipedia so the world takes it as fact!)

Sometimes it’s just nice to sit back and read something printed (and I don’t mean on your BubbleJet!).  At least that way you know that someone spent a lot of time (or at least a minute or two than I did on this article!) and some money to put the thing in print.  Plus you get a feeling, an experience when reading printed media that you don’t get when communicating with the internet, listening to the radio, or watching the news (and you most likely get more than the highlights, the explosions! the money shots! from the headlines).

However you read, read, but remember I wrote this article in just as long as it took you to read this and I’m no expert, I read everything online too!  So read on!