By: Anna Idler Shirky’s article

“Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable” discusses how the newspaper industry has been outplayed by the internet: “the old stuff gets broken faster than the new stuff is put in its place.” But isn’t this simply inevitable? It’s a fact that the world nowadays is fast and furious; new technologies are being developed every day. Ironically, if news industries and internet companies follow Shirkey’s advice and “experiment” with fresh ways of journalism, that will most likely lead them to an even more efficient way to broadcast news. The slow decline of the newspaper industry is unfortunate. I remember the comfort of coming home from grade school and reading the newspaper with my dad. Meaning I settled into the Garfield comic strip section while he focused on actual current events. Newspapers bring a feeling of steadiness and consistency; it’s nice to sit down, take a much needed break from a stressful day and get informed. This is the goal of any sort of news outlet – to get the public updated about the community and nation they live in. The internet does this, only faster. As long as individuals are taking time to locate and read news, it doesn’t matter if he or she is using the internet or The New York Times. Although we are losing authenticity through the dwindling popularity of print media, we are gaining more rapid ways of obtaining the news. Whether we are turning pages or scrolling down, the only thing that matters is that we simply take the time to educate ourselves.