
Today I consumed an apricot danish for breakfast and birthday cake, sour cream and chilli chips, rice crisps and a 10% coffee, 90% sugar caramel frappuccino from Starbucks for lunch. By 4.30pm I was having an existential melt down as well as an awkward, angsty, self loathing conversation with myself. I wanted to run away to sulk in the deepest, darket corner of a deep and dark library; ideally Hogwart’s library. Since such a place only exists in my mind I went to Magnation to buy a few magazines. Magnation is an excuse for me to be a social recluse. Magazines are joy. Summing up, I seem to buy magazines when I have emotional issues (which may or may not be induced by shit food).
I digress- A friend of mine couldn't believe that I was willing to drop $30 on a magazine- "I didn't even know magazines could cost that much!"- and it got me wondering whether I could live without print mags and survive soley on free online ones...
Online mags vs Print mags.Online magazines appear to be the way into the future and print magazines are trying hard to keep up with the growing demands of an online audience ladidadida. But every time I walk into Magnation, Borders or any newsagency or bookstore for that matter, my feelings for the continuation and thriving of print media grows. Yes, everybody is questioning the relevance of print magazines when the internet offers "everything" mags do and what’s more, it’s free, up to date and capable of reaching a broader audience. However, I think there are things online magazines will never be able to replicate.
There are way too many online magazines out there to name but really, I think in regards to fashion, only
Mykro mag uses the online medium perfectly. I believe fashion magazines have to work differently online- the focus definitely has to be on the visual aspect much more than the written content (although that is important too). Personally, I have neither the patience nor time to read long winded articles in which I am forced to zoom in to see the text. What I like about Mykro mag is that it features succinct articles, is visually pleasing and is well, micro (in regards to number of pages). I’ll tell you that I am not a fan of ebooks (however handy they may be), and I generally can’t read hundreds of pages of text on a laptop- I couldn’t even get through an online manga series! This may also be because staring at a computer screen for extended periods of time exhausts my eyes. But you know, I think there is a general consensus that no one wants to spend hours staring at a monitor unless forced to.
I while ago, I noticed Dazed and Confused began uploading it’s
back issues online. D&C is a substantially thick magazine in print (150 pages or so?) so going through it online was incredibly tiring for me. [edit. I received an email ages ago notifying me of back issues going online and I swear I viewed the entire issue with Kristen Stewart on the cover...I went to find a link a second ago and turns out you have to pay to view the online version of the mag, which makes sense...but it's weird that I viewed the whole K.Stewart issue online for free since you can't do that now...]The internet is great for short attention spans (and if I am correct, has attributed to our increasingly shortening attention spans) so uploading lengthy mags for online consumption doesn’t really make sense to me. Online mags need to be succinct.
I was thinking if say, Pop or Another were available online, would I read them? No, I wouldn’t. For one, it’s hard to find time to sit in front of a computer and devour all its contents especially when it comes to such content rich mags like that. I’d only flick to the images and that’s about it. Which brings me to the point of images: Images in print are a whole lot more special when you’re looking at it in your hands than on a monitor. It’s a bit like storing digital photos vs photo abums with printed photos. Images in print also have the intended colour resolution (and are so much more beautiful I think), whereas viewing images online, you may not get the full experience- everybody has a different colour res on their screens. I suppose it’s subtle but it’s important, in my opnion. Also, I’m a bit of a stickler for page texture too...I think the weight and width of a page certainly adds to the power/effect of the image.
I’m not completely old school though- if I was, I wouldn’t be blogging, I’d be zineing. With the speed and ease of digital, it easily makes things feel disposable. Something of which I believe magazines should NOT be. I’m very much one of those people who are anal about keeping magazines in good condition (aside from gossip magazines-really couldn’t give a shit about them. Sorry). I’m the sort of person who treasures her magazines well and view magazines as a documentation of a particular moment in time which I can refer back to in the future. Online media should be fun and give instantaneous hits of quick articles and images. But print mags (again, not counting gossip rags) are worthy enough to be treated like books. They’re more than just a quick fix.
The internet is amazing for magazines and has so many pros, but I think the speed of information...it’s almost...too fast?! To me, print magazines are symbolic of time and longevity. Online magazines can quickly get lost amongst the sea of other online mags and I feel the content standard is sometimes lower than that of print magazines. I guess this all boils down to me wanting Pocketto in print. There’s no way Pocketto would be what it is now without it starting and being available online, I know that, but I am tired of feeling like each issue is substandard after I upload it when I know it can be better. I think I’ve just approached online magazines in the wrong way...only now do I realise online mags and print mags have to be approached in an entirely different way... Not saying that print is the answer to my problems (in fact, it probably will cause more problems!), but it was my original intention for Pocky to be in print (and I think what Aimee and I have planned content wise is more suitable for print) since the start and I believe in print media enough to follow through. There's definitely a place for online magazines, I just hope to never see print mags diminish...
Sorry for writing a whole essay length post dudes. You know I don’t do this unless I really really really really care about a topic. Plus, I have an English essay due tomorrow and writing about this is much more fun :)
Please HONESTLY tell me what you think about print vs online magazines (someone should discuss price and environmental factors too...). I know I will continue to buy print mags for the rest of my life (or the existence of print mags) but sometimes I feel advancement of the online media and its subsequent rise/takeover is inevitable.