Let me first start this post by staying…Print media isn’t dead, it’s just moved.

I started looking into this topic when I heard about the Barnes & Noble 6.6% drop in sales.

“The largest U.S. bookstore chain operator’s net loss narrowed to $14.4 million, or 20 cents per share, in the first quarter ended July 30 from $34.9 million, or 68 cents per share, a year earlier.

Total sales fell to $913.9 million from $978.6 million.” -Subrat Patnaik

This is a huge turning point for Barns & Noble. They are started the downturn. People have officially spoken, we prefer digital. It might be a few years before we start to see a drop like this again for Barns & Nobel, but with more and more children getting iPads for Christmas or teenagers finding their high school novel assignment’s on audio tracks, we will start to see a decline in the hard / soft cover book.

From the college student sections of the population, we are often stuck in the middle. While I would prefer to purchase an eBook to a hard cover book, my rational is an unjust one. I would prefer to hold a hard cover book in my hand, highlight the pages, and flag the sections of text I need to refer back to. On the other hand, an eBook is easier on my bank account, text and keywords are more searchable, and the eBook is MUCH lighter in my backpack.

In this sense, print media is not dead. But it might be on it’s way. I observe more and more students buying the eBook for classes based on the same points I offered before. But let’s take a look at newspapers. Even better, let’s go global.

While many of us Americans are stuck in our views of print media, I believe we have to look outside of world to understand the full picture of the future of print media. Not everyone has access to digital media so print media is not likely to be obsolete anytime soon.

“Currently more than 82,000 newspapers combine to give India a total circulation of 110 million daily copies.”

110 million daily copies. Print media is far from dead.

With the ridiculous amount of stories that fill the web, it is hard to tell which ones are credible or even remotely true. There is a sort of credibility that comes along with print media, which adds a value you can not get online. Something about a story published in a big time newspaper or even a local paper seems more real and truthful. Digital media is ideal for breaking news but print media can be used to educate populations about topics so that we can better understand current events.

Globally print media is far from exiting our lives. Many people rely on the newspapers to get their daily news. But it’s safe to stay that print media will start to exist the United States in the coming years based on our love for digital media. We know that the major players in the industry are getting ready for this move with updated websites, mobile apps, and even news alerts on smart watches.