Do you miss magazines and/or print media?

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GaryNOVA@reddit

Yes. Electronic Gaming Monthly, Nintendo Power, Pc Gamer, Computer Gaming World, Entertainment Weekly , Maxim , FHM, Etc

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Winter_Ratio_4831@reddit

Yes I do.

And for this reason, and that they're so cheap because the magazines practically give them away, I still subscribe to several. And the weekend Wall Street Journal.

My other favorite thing: At the airport I go find a newspaper almost immediately. All that wonderful sitting around both in the terminal and on the plane is perfect for reading a paper slowly. With a cup of coffee.

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Randeth@reddit

My biggest hobby is tabletop Role-playing Games. And I SOOOO miss all the magazines that used to be available. Filled with great new content. And ads that I actually wanted to read. Color or B&W. High quality or fanzines. I loved them. Loved getting them on the mail or back from the game store and just losing myself in them. There are some good digital / PDF ones now but not as many and they just lose something.

/sigh

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savedbytheblood72@reddit

I work in printing and publishing. So no I've seen enough. Yet it is shrinking. I was told in the '90s when I started my career. I may as well just quit because by the year 2000 there'll be "no printed items whatsoever" Ha

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jeffnorris@reddit

I miss the reading the paper with my morning coffee

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Dr_Feelgoof@reddit

i actually miss SkyMall. Lol

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

Heh, reminds me of the Sharper Image catalog.

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seigezunt@reddit

Eh. It was a lot of junk that piled up

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LostTiredWanderer@reddit

I get Scotland magazine, The Smithsonian, The English Garden and Vogue

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GroveGuy33133@reddit

Literally must grab a copy of Miami New Times before going to the beach, every time. It’s like a moral imperative.

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

I do love the little freebie magazines you see in touristy areas (though if they're less than 40% content rather than advertisements, I just light my charcoal with them).

Whether they're mountain or beach towns, I call all of these publications "The Sandpaper" presumably after one from the beach town I went to in my youth, I don't really remember the origin.

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GroveGuy33133@reddit

New Times is a more quality local journalism than your standard freebie beach ads type paper. There’s a decent web version which is nice at home at my desk, but something about real paper on the beach just works for me. Also, not a full sized newsprint sheet, so perfect to handle with a little breeze.

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MoonJr77@reddit

I do for sure. I'll still go out and buy a bunch, just to enjoy.

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Conscious-Phone3209@reddit

Yes ❣️

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ChrisRiley_42@reddit

Absolutely. When Popular Science went online only, I cancelled my subscription.

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zealousreader@reddit

I remember being able to find a job a car and an appartment In the Saturday paper.

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

Amen!

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Flaky-Debate-833@reddit

As a kid, Thursday was my favorite day. Sports Illustrated was always in the mailbox.

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

The new issue of the Sporting News was always in the Bodega on Thursdays. I wonder if that informed the delivery of SI.

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Otney@reddit

Well, I subscribe to The Sun. Real magazine. No ads. Poetry. Photos. Wonderful short form fiction. Essays. Highly recommend it. There is ALSO a web site.

https://www.thesunmagazine.org

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Admirable-Cobbler319@reddit

When I was a teenager, I had a subscription to Sassy magazine. I think I had that subscription for almost a decade. I loved getting in the mail every month.

I miss it.

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Lalamedic@reddit

I also mis print catalogues.

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Tonythecritic@reddit

In my teens I was subscribed to Starlog Magazine, kept all the issues I received for years. Somehow lost them when spouse & I moved from apartment to house, would love to read them all over again. I do miss THAT magazine, and maybe part of me misses a period when I had access to morning papers every day.

But in the era of instantaneous news, that format is pretty much obsolete, and it seems that what publications are still being printed are mostly filled with ads.

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Mistervimes65@reddit

Came here to say Starlog. My first issue was number seven. The Star Wars issue.

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Tonythecritic@reddit

I still vividly remember articles and interview I read in that magazine. One I remember particularly is where Gary Graham, talking about the "upcoming" Robot Jox, said he had been shortly worried it might kill his career but then he saw a rough cut and was reassured. Famous last words...

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Mistervimes65@reddit

I loved the weird blueprints they would have. I vividly remember the blueprints for the Sandman weapons from Logan’s Run.

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Tonythecritic@reddit

DUDE! I'd forgotten about that!!!!

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JJQuantum@reddit

Yes because you could scan through them and simply ignore the ads.

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ChadlyWax@reddit

I still get Fangoria...

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fireflypoet@reddit

I miss magazines in the bathroom.

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blueblocker2000@reddit

I miss Maxim, EGM, Diehard GameFan, Game pro and Next Generation Gamer but only in the 90's-early 00's era. Gaming mostly sux now and Maxim would be too watered down now to be entertaining.

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

I was a charter subscriber to Maxim way back when, but let it lapse after about two years of feeling like the same issue was just being repeated each month.

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blueblocker2000@reddit

I always found something funny/interesting to read. I'm simple-minded though🙃

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

I think the very first Mad magazine I read included a spoof parody of the original Alien movie. So that was what, 1979 or 80? I was 9 or 10.

Good times!

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blueblocker2000@reddit

I never bought any MAD mags. I did watch/enjoy MAD TV though.

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Tall-Yard-407@reddit

Yes. Very much so.

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firstlight777@reddit

Most grocery stores and Walmart have a magazine rack still.

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firstlight777@reddit

I get national geographic still, it's awesome to have a 90s poop, no phone.

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NoeTellusom@reddit

I subscribe to multiple magazines (gardening, art, etc) and get the local paper delivered.

So honestly, this hasn't happened in my life.

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OreoSpeedwaggon@reddit

Yes, but then I think of all the paper waste it creates and the damage to the environment from logging, ink manufacturing, chemicals that go into paper processing, and all that stuff.

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

I think it would be awesome if all that waste discussion were directed at the epidemic of junk mail that comes every week.

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OreoSpeedwaggon@reddit

That waste is even more egregious because nobody wants junk mail. At least magazines have people that buy and subscribe to them because they're actually interested in reading them.

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

I think junk mail is the only thing protecting all those USPS jobs and pensions.

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OreoSpeedwaggon@reddit

You're probably right.

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2PlasticLobsters@reddit

Yes, I always enjoyed the feel of the glossy pages & photos in high quality print (as compared with newspapers). They're so expensive now, I just can't.

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NegScenePts@reddit

I miss reading magazines and newspapers, but I DO NOT miss wondering what to do with them after I've finished reading them. So much waste with newspapers, and so little space for thousands of magazines.

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NHBikerHiker@reddit

Yes. Stopped reading magazines once they went digital.

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Owlthirtynow@reddit

Yes!!!

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GreenerMark@reddit

Yes. One reason is there is less eye strain compared to reading on a screen. And it was exciting getting a new magazine in the mail. And flipping pages is better than scrolling endlessly....

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Ellisrsp@reddit

Somehow a copy of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue materializes every year in the break room at work.

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badhoopty@reddit

very much so. im also a graphic designer who specializes in print so theres that as well.

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cltreader@reddit

I still buy them at B&N. New Yorker, Economist, Airplanes, cooking etc. They are still there but the variety and quality of content have gone down for a lot of titles.

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warrenao@reddit

Mad is still available via subscription, so there's that.

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

Ha! That is awesome!

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warrenao@reddit

Got the latest ish in the mail today, as it happens.

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lsp2005@reddit

I miss all of the home/shelter design magazines. I saved a few old copies and I like to look through them.

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RespondOpposite@reddit

Yes. I loved Vogue and Vanity Fair.

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MundaneHuckleberry58@reddit

Yes. Very muchly.

I hate that my teens & nieces aren’t growing up flipping through Sassy & Seventeen while listening to actual physical music media.

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Last_Blackfyre@reddit

Miss the newspaper actually having interesting or useful information. Local sports, wedding & birth announcements, real estate ads and transactions, decent editorials. For the price- my local paper isn’t worth it almost all of the time.

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

I gave up on newspapers in the 2010s when it became impassive for me to find one that wasn't shamelessly biased one way or the other. Just give me the fuckin' facts, I'll make my decision about what it means to me.

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Glass-Nectarine-3282@reddit

I understand the arguments AGAINST physical publications, newspapers, magazines, etc.

Obviously they are absurdly wasteful - so even if we still existed in the ad-driven world, would they be the best use of resources? No.

What is also obviously being lost is that permanence, especially when it comes to photography, which is clearly more impactful on a page than a phone screen. That's just cut and dry.

The problem with the question is that it's hard to see what's being lost. A newspaper in 1999 had plenty of little stories about community, local gov't, small stuff like who joined the military or what little league team won, and that is much harder to find today, can't be kept for scrapbooks, or maybe isn't written at all. Does it matter? Who's to say? Magazines had long-form stories and photography that had more impact on a big page then they ever would have on a phone screen.

So it's easy to say "of course I don't miss them," but that's talking about missing the physical object, as opposed to the information that has been lost.

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

For the record, we still live in an ad-driven world. I get about 20 lbs of junk mail a month. That's a lot of waste.

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DrShankensteinMD@reddit

Back in 99' I was on tour amd stayed with a friend in California, who's dad was in the magazine biz. We had a whole discussion about his company was going digital and that the future wasn't in print media.

I told him there was no way, the tactility of flipping through the pages of a well produced magazine would keep people from giving up the meida... Flash foward.

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

Well, how often do people read more than 140 characters in digital print these days?

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DrShankensteinMD@reddit

That's true. I tried the digital format magazine subscriptions for a minute, before going right back to print.

I think the biggest issue with most print media is the rising cover price. When we were growing up a few you could walk out with an armful of magazines for $15-$20, now many of the publications I pick up are $15-$20 a pop.

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Signal_Cake5735@reddit

When I was at university, I had a subscription to Andy Warhol’s Interview (courtesy of my godmother). I loved running downstairs to retrieve it from the mailbox and then spending hours reading it from cover to cover. I get a national news magazine sent to me now as I’m a regular contributor, but I haven’t bought a magazine in years. Picked up a Canadian Elle in a waiting room recently; it was total crap. Full of ads and the writing was terrible.

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wyohman@reddit

I still have multiple magazine subscriptions. I do wish Omni was still around

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MizzGee@reddit

My husband was just complaining about how he wants a paper to take to work.

I don't get magazines anymore, but I do miss In Style on occasion. I can't believe we planned an entire wedding without bridal magazines, but my son did 80% of it, and he is not a magazine kid.

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fridayimatwork@reddit

Not at all

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ItsmeMr_E@reddit

I still enjoy reading my books.

However, magazines and newspapers are a waste of resources . You read them once and then throw them away. This was the norm pre mass access to digital media.

Not to mention far fewer people are interested in reading about the latest police reports, obituaries, horoscopes, etc...

I do miss reading the comic strips.

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ancientastronaut2@reddit

I really do. I still get architectural digest.

But a year or two ago, I was standing in line and an issue of Real Simple caught my eye because I used to subscribe to it. I picked it up and it was sadly thin and had almost no good content.

I remember being obsessed with marie claire, vogie, glamour, elle, alure, W, etc.

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Quix66@reddit

Yes. But ironically I haven’t read the latest print issue I got a few days ago.

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umeboshiplumpaste@reddit

I miss catalogs filled with toys that I can dog ear and obsess about.

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MrBrawn@reddit

We got to pick out two things from the Sears catalog growing up. My brother and I would fight over it an it looked like we just prepped for an exam after.

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Thirty_Helens_Agree@reddit

I miss The Onion - the free ones from a box on the street or on campus.

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Shinkai2008@reddit

Totally. Whenever the wife went shopping at any local mall, there was usually a Barnes and Nobles or Borders bookstore I could usually waste a few hours in looking over magazines or books.

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KurtStation68@reddit

In the 90s there was a couple of magazine shops that opened up a whole new world - music magazines with CDs in them, etc. We frequent those a lot until they closed and today it's the bookstores that has decent selections (or if you're lucky, they have good 'zines)

Sadly the quality of magazines are down with higher prices. Heck, I will read any magazine at an office or auto shop because it's rare or it's a little gem in the rough. Much like catalogs.

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PhiloLibrarian@reddit

No because we have papers and magazines all over our house! 😆

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Expensive-Ferret-339@reddit

I was never much of a magazine reader. I had a subscription to Smithsonian and they’d pile up while I meant to read them.

I do miss the newspaper though. I got the local daily paper and would read it first thing since it was delivered between 430 and 5, and I got NYT on Sunday.

When Gannett bought the local I stopped subscribing, and I read NYT online now. I still miss that big ole roll of paper but it’s less trouble and cheaper for digital. Also no paper to recycle.

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BlakeMajik@reddit

I "subscribe" to a lot of digital magazines through the library app, but I also like to check some out that I know I'll enjoy paging through much more in my hands. Like Garden & Gun, for example.

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Weekley13@reddit

Last year I was out of town with my kids & they ended up wanting to spend the night with cousins instead of coming back to the hotel with me. There was a Target on the way back to the hotel & I thought I would swing in & grab a magazine to read since I had unexpected alone time at the hotel. I go in, walked the store & then just laughed. There were no magazines. I could've gone further down the road to check the Walmart but I just sulked my way back to the hotel & went to bed. Magazines were always a little treat I would get myself every so often. Guess it's been awhile...

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ACorania@reddit

Honestly no. I can't really think of one I used to get that I don't have better, more up to date sources for now

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jsakic99@reddit

I still take out print magazines from the library. I much prefer reading from physical media compared to digital versions.

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MediumAd3331@reddit

I still get Bon Appetit delivered, but I miss flicking thru interesting magazines on my commute. Photography one day, rolling stone another, I once bought a magazine about Cessnas pilots. All things I’d never Google or Wiki. Just a cool cover photo and an hour to kill. I’ll never go kindle. Still need books in my hands

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KimBrrr1975@reddit

I subscribe to 2 physical/paper magazines. They are quarterly so I don't have time for a whole stack of them to develop before I read them. Anything else I read at the library.

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Present-Ambition6309@reddit

No. Too much waste

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Ok_Entrepreneur_8509@reddit

I loved weekly news and entertainment magazines. The thing I miss most is that you read the whole thing, and then it was over. I had a whole week to digest what I read before I got more.

Online is just a constant stream of stuff. Now I think multiple times per day if anything new has happened with some situation or some celebrity. There is no motivation for me to think about the content, nor for the writers to think about what they write.

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jaxbravesfan@reddit

As someone who has spent his entire career in the commercial printing industry, yes, I miss all things that used to be printed that have gone digital.

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

I'm sure.

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IowaAJS@reddit

I miss doing crosswords on newsprint with a pen.

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Cross_22@reddit

I loved the weekly / monthly magazines and books as a kid; not so much as an adult. Because of that I mainly feel sorry for my kids not having that experience of riding your bike to the newspaper store at the beginning of the week to spend your allowance on the latest issue.

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tri4time@reddit

We offer a physical mailed "magazine" for that exact reason. And I just subscribed to Coastal Living for my wife. That coming in the mail every other month sounds cool.

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit (OP)

I must admit that bimonthly magazines were never my favorites. With that said, I'm glad some magazines still exist in physical format.

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acecoffeeco@reddit

I subscribe to the Atlantic, cooks illustrated, New Yorker and NY mag. Digital to the times. It’s not that much and way nicer than staring at a screen.

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New-Sheepherder2239@reddit

Newspapers for sure, was just talking about this last night