Analog

In a world of newsletters, who will survive?

For the last six months, I have gravitated to old-school reading. Picking up the paper in the shop and the odd magazine. I like the fact that it's absolute. No evolving creature changing shape as you scroll down, subtly changing the ads and popping in links that might lure you down some rabbit hole with deep fakes and the next big crypto move by Elon Musk. Newspaper reading puts the decision back in your hands. Then there is the aesthetics; it's nice to hold a paper or to complain because the person who read it before you mixed up the pages and didn't fold it properly.

Admittedly, I use the Kindle app, and there are great tools you can integrate, like Notion and Instapaper, and looking up a word is faster than taking the old Heinemann dictionary, which smells a bit funky, off the shelf. But it is more romantic.

Newsletters die in my inbox if they don't entertain. One can also argue value, but it's Monday morning, and nobody wants to use the word value before at least 1 pm. On multiple scrolls, I have seen people announcing to the world that they have unsubscribed from all the newsletters because it's too much, and they just cannot find the time.

How ironic it is that we have changed how we engage with media. Because everyone is a journalist, we read short snippets and watch videos to save time. Neglect our long reading, of which the inverse is a gazillion reels. The latter is easier, but unfortunately, it is littered with reality TV stimuli and the next iteration of Crocs or, in my case, baby prams. They know.

Our baby pram is quite the vehicle, with three wheels with off-road ability, an extension here, and a thingy there that can unclip and reclip. You get the point. Why didn't I listen to my doctor when he told me to buy the cheapest pram you can throw in the back? I guess it's probably a reel with a side dish of Capetonian social pressure. A friendly old lady, however, did compliment me over December while showing off the pram on a solo dad and babe walk; she wasn't impressed with the pram but said that I was the third dad with a pram, she had seen on her morning walk, and it looks like times have changed.

Newsletters die because they are not written with readers in mind. Often, the writer gets more benefit, straightening out their thoughts. Although there isn't a better way to discover your thoughts, we unsubscribe because they don't entertain.

And the recipe for entertaining with pen and paper has been around for a long time - the hero's journey. The hero embarks on adventure, fights the dragon, and is reborn as a transformed self.

We know the ending, but the journey is the differentiator that entertains. The manner. How does the writer deliver the ending to you?

Tech has not just changed how we shop but also the delivery of our story to ourselves. In today's world, like we have said, for I don't know, forever? There is just no time. And we are very creative when coming up with new manners, that cause our beloved I don't have the time. The latest is the technology that connects us and makes everyone's lives easier.

Times have changed, so entertain someone in person, even by showing off your new overpriced pram.

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash