Mourning Magazines and The Future of Content

I love magazines. I remember being a young girl and running home from school to check the mailbox to see if my subscriptions to Teen and YM arrived. I would pour over the pages, dog-earing the different stories I wanted to read, or tearing out the photos of my favorite celebs to hang in my bedroom.?

My love of magazines continued through my teen and early adult years as I would eagerly hit the newsstand to get the latest issue of People Magazine (the post-Oscar’s fashion issue was always my favorite). Eventually, I worked my way into a job in Public Relations where I was inundated with every magazine I could possibly want to see. I would flip the pages and look for coverage for the clients I represented, while tearing out a recipe I wanted to try, or a shirt I wanted to buy.?

In my nearly 20 years in the industry, I’ve had a front-row seat to witness the decline of print media, watching legacy publications I have loved decrease the number of issues or shutter the print publications altogether. The recent news that Meredith and its new owner DotDash have decided to cease publishing print editions of publishing stalwarts like InStyle, Entertainment Weekly, and Parents is just another hard pill to swallow.

Here is some of what I miss about magazines, and what I’ve used to replace them:

The Curation: Those of us in marketing have been told for years that Content is King, these days there is no end to the amount of content available on pretty much any topic.? For me, it's become content overload, and I’m frustrated by keeping my passwords straight for the various paywall subscriptions I’ve purchased.?

Over the past few months, I’ve turned to sources that curate content for me in easy-to-digest bites. My favorite follow on Instagram is Mosheh, a former CBS News Producer that curates news from a myriad of sources to give you the information you most need to know. There is something about tapping through his stories that reminds me of flipping through a magazine.

The Ritual: For years I never boarded an airplane without first stopping by the airport newsstand. I would typically board a plane with 2 or 3 titles clutched under my arm and would spend the flight flipping through pages, and absorbing the latest in fashion, home décor, or celebrity gossip.

That ritual looks a little different these days. Instead of magazines, I download a few episodes of podcasts like Dax Shepard’s Arm Chair Expert and listen while I aimlessly play some sort of Candy Crush-like game on my phone.

The Escape: Magazines were always a way to escape for me. Flipping through their pages, was a few minutes to turn my brain off and take a pause from the day’s events. When I was younger it was the break from homework, or a little quiet time before going out with friends. As I got older it was a few minutes of downtime between meetings, or something to enjoy with my bagel on a Saturday morning.?

These days when I need a brain break, I turn to TikTok. Scrolling through TikTok feels like falling into a rabbit hole, with an endless amount of random content that doesn’t take a lot of brain-power to consume, but keeps you entertained.

So, what about the future of print magazines? Visit your local grocery store check-out line and it becomes clear, weekly and monthly legacy titles have been replaced by special issue magazines on everything from seasonal cooking recipes to an in-depth look at the royals. What once was a brand new magazine launch from Rachael Ray has been replaced with a Special Edition Magazine from the team at the Home Edit. Print magazines might not give me the joy they once did… but at least I’ll have something to flip through while I’m waiting at check out.