By Maureen O'Donoghue

            Of my twelve closest girl friends at school, one of us picks up a national news paper a max of once a week; however, five of my friends are required to be updated on the news for at least one of their classes.  All five of us, myself included, read the news on the internet instead of picking up The New York Times that is free and located at the entrance to our dorm on campus.  Why is this so?  Why is it so easy for us to neglect the printed news?  The answer is that times have changed and technology is too relevant a role in our lives for us to even take the extra walk down the hall to pick up the paper when we can get the exact same information on our computer that is usually a foot away.

              In Clay Shirky’s “Newspapers and the Unthinkable,” Shirky discusses the idea of the newspaper becoming obsolete and what a tragic happening this would be.  I honestly don’t think it will be as tragic as people are anticipating, or at least it won’t be that bad for me!  I think nostalgia is the main reason why people are so torn up about the idea of the internet taking over printed news.  People who grew up watching their parents and their grandparents purchase and read the newspaper each day have developed an attachment to this form of publication.  I think this is slightly lame and naïve.  With changing times come changing professions and changing traditions.  The transition away from printed news will be a catastrophe for writers, publishers, reporters, etc. in the industry; however, they, and the process, will adapt to the current times.