I don't know about you, but lately, I usually just eat my lunch at my desk and keep plowing through my ever-growing pile of work ahead of me.
But there was a time when I'd make a point to leave the office, typically by myself, and devote at least 20 minutes enjoying a sandwich in solitude. Part of that tradition involved picking up The Onion, or if that was unavailable, The Shepherd Express, and quietly reading while I ate. It seemed like a nice mental break, and in some ways, I miss it being part of my routine.
Now, however, when I can peel myself out of the office, I find that I'm not picking up a weekly print magazine. I'm catching up on Twitter, e-mail and my daily Web bookmarks that I probably haven't checked out in the first few hours at work. In some ways, it's more rewarding, even on the puny iPhone (or spacious iPad) screen, and I'm struck by how little the actual medium of print means to me anymore.
I've said it over and over; content is king, and the format on which it's "printed" is irrelevant. But only recently have I found that, in nearly every circumstance, digital has replaced good old-fashioned print. I'm not passing judgment on old-school magazines and newspapers, either. I'm just saying this is how I read.
In fact, I only regularly read two publications in their original print format now: Esquire and Runner's World, both because I received the subscriptions as a gift. And I do enjoy the tactile sensation of turning pages, but oddly, I don't really miss reading a newspaper in print at all. Sure, I'll pick up a Journal Sentinel sports section if it's lying around somewhere and I have time to kill, but I honestly cannot remember the last time I bought a newspaper. I just know that when I did, I felt cheated, because I had already read most of it online, anyway, and probably from the paper's own Web site.
Again, this isn't a back-handed attack against the print industry, and just because I own an online magazine, it doesn't mean that I don't think the two formats cannot coexist. I've just finally leapt over that precipice where I'm equally comfortable reading content in print as I am on a phone or a tablet or a laptop. I don't remember exactly when it happened, but it definitely has.
Obviously, social media plays a big part in it. Weeding out all the ridiculous, self-indulgent tweets, Twitter has made sporting events and breaking news much more interactive -- and fun. If you're still anti-Twitter, that's cool. I feel the same way about Facebook; I just don't get it. But I've yet to meet someone who gave Twitter an honest look-see and decided it wasn't worth using.
Today, though, I forced myself to read the classic, printed Onion over my burrito at Qdoba (that I managed to spill all over me). I kept my phone in my pocket, and I didn't take it out. But I also found myself a little bored by it, and that's taking nothing away from the hilarious, original content.
It's just that my media consumption habits have evolved -- or devolved -- past print. Have yours, too? Post a Talkback below and let me know.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
