Are Magazines Doomed?

DOOM?!

With the world constantly changing and developing, it is inevitable that we have to change with it. The ever increasing demand for faster internet or better technology has people split on the survival of the glossy and informative publications that are magazines.

 

Is it the end?

As consumers, we all strive for the best deal we can find. This has inevitably led to the question: why pay for something when we could get it for free? Before the invention of the internet and its allowance of mass information at our fingertips, if people wanted to get information on the latest music buzz, they had to buy a magazine. Physically go to a shop and spend money for information? How horrible.

 

It is universally known that we like to know things and access information when and wherever we want, and sadly the good old glossy publications just doesn't fit in anymore - we are world where no one has any time to spend on magazines, and multi - tasking is our way now. Why bother with any other media than a phone or computer because, well, don't they have all the answers? And better yet, its all in one place - how convenient.

 

Furthermore, how can magazines possibly keep up? The idea of FOMO (fear of missing out) is becoming ever apparent and people want to be up to date with everything - even the small stuff. This links to the point of no time and how we want things easier and faster, something that magazines are no longer good at. This is because magazines are costly to print and require lots of man hours to make. Granted, so do the latest technological devices, but magazines need high sales to survive and therefore need to advertise lots to make sure this happens - word of mouth isn't as reliable for them. Consequently, this all implies that magazines are in fact dying a sad and painful death.

 

Wait! Is there still hope?

Over the years, new technology has been expected to out live many other medias, and is predicted to out live us. Yet, they are still surviving. Before the questioning of the survival of magazines, people had questioned the survival of radios. Who would still listen to the radio when they have a TV? The answer - everyone. Even today, when TVs are getting slimmer, bigger, better pictures, people are still religiously tuning into stations like Radio 1 to learn the new hits of the week.

 

Furthermore, deny all you want, most people are materialistic, meaning that owning psychical copies of things brings more pleasure than a download on a mobile phone. This cannot be said for everyone, as lots of people are fans of things so they prefer to have the real thing. This explains why CDs are not dead and that now, people are starting to listen to vinyl, even though that was thought to be replaced by CDs. Also, it is said that most profits made in lots of industries still come from print and that there is still, and always will be money to be made from magazines.

 

In conclusion, this highlights how although this world is fast moving with little slowing down, people still value print. Granted, this cannot be said for everyone, and that magazines are probably now seen more as a luxury than a necessity (a necessity now being a mobile phone because we simple must communicated by texting now and is the only way to stay in contact). Therefore, as long as people still support and are fans of magazines, then they are seemingly sure to survive - their end is not near.