Me, the NY Times & young people's habits

I've told this story more than a few times, so if you've already heard it, just skip it. I hope you come back soon. The story is somehow embedded in my mind as I work on my write up of New Media Jim for an imminent GlobalNeighbourhoods.TV. He and I are two old dogs who have transitioned from old media to new. There are thousands of our erstwhile colleagues who will never make that transition. It would require them to break too many habits, or so it seems to me.

I started as a freshman at Northeastern University in September 1962 after being raised in the manufacturing city of New Bedford, Mass. On my first day at Northeastern, I wandered into the university commons where I saw a stack of New York Times papers, under a sign, saying "Free."

I had never seen a New York Times before. But I had heard of it. I figured if I took one, and ordered my coffee black and sat in a prominent place, the girls would notice me and my paper and my coffee and would think I was smart, which for a college freshman should be a good thing.

The girls of course, ignored me as they passed by, opting for tables as close as they could get to the football team's table. That left me little choice but to actually drink the coffee and read the paper.  I discovered that coffee without cream and sugar was pretty good, but I discovered the world as it existed in 1962 in the pages of the New York Times. Through those ages I came to understand the complexities of the crisis of the day in Cuban. I was taken to places in the world I never dreamed of seeing.

It became my habit to read the Times with my coffee every morning. It was my comfort time, my time of learning about the people, places and powers of the world.

Now, some 46 years later, I start my day with tweets and Google Reader, Google News and email. I start quite early, but sometime in the morning, I stop, grab a cup of black coffee and browse the paper version of the Times. There is little news in it that I have not already seen, often from the online NY Times.

I really do not need the Times anymore. The world will be a little greener if no tree gets sliced to make my paper, if no acid-laced ink gets used to print the paper, if no fossil fuel burning vehicle is used to deliver me that paper.

But for 46 years, it has been my habit to read the times with my coffee and it is incredibly difficult for us to break habits. look at yourself. How many things do you do that you started doing before you were age 25?

Now, look at some children you know. Take a close, hard look at the activities that engage them. Take a look at where they go and what they see and who they meet and where they stay online.

These are the habits they are likely to have 46 years from now. If they spend there time online, they are likely to continue doing so. This is where an increasing amount of socialization is likely to happen. This is where they are increasingly likely to be influenced in what they buy, watch and listen to; who they vote for, where they visit and how they get there.

If you are business strategist, an educator, a public official or even a librarian, when you look at the future, do not look at it in the environment where yo are currently putting in your time. Look at the environment they will be in when they are your age.

This is all going to happen much faster than you may think and my very strong advice is to start adjust course now. The larger your organization, the more entrenched it is in its own habits, the longer it is going to take you to adjust course.

Comments

[Mallory Dash]

Excellent comments Shel- as a under-25er I think you might be on to something. And you can't argue with the environmental benefits. It looks like print media is going to have to find a better way to monetize their online content (and keep staffers on the masthead).

That said- even though I get a ton of my news online, there is still something irreplaceable to sit down and get my hands dirty with a hard copy of the Times or WSJ. Also, doing a crossword online is just too difficult :)

[Michael Pinto]

The New York Times is evolving into a weekly printed publication: The Sunday Times. In fact they've been running an ad campaign here in NYC for "The Week, The Weekend, and the Weekender" which is aimed at a younger audience and selling them on the concept of the Sunday Times as entertainment (not a news) experience.

This "Weekender" ad features a twentysomething telling us that she found "these cool boots" - the implication that the publication is more about lifestyle than breaking tweets. I think this strategy is sharp because it makes them cooler than a weekly news mag like Time or Newsweek - and it also makes them more current than a monthly lifestyle magazine like Vogue or Bon Appetit.

The print heard is thinning out, but my own feeling is that weaker monthly titles and local papers like Newsday on Long Island are in trouble. By the way you have to give credit to the Times: They are tweeting too!

[Martin Edic]

I guess my response is they won't able to cary today's habits forward into their lives because the technology behind those habits, unlike print, is in a constant state of change. For this reason I don't think your theory holds up and you are an example of why- were you Twittering a year ago? Will you be Twittering two years from now? Neither of us can answer but I'm guessing it will have evolved into something quite different or have been superceded by something different, perhaps something with an actual business model...

[shel israel]

Martin,

There was a time when I used a manual drill to make holes. Now I use a power drill. Twitter is among my current tools of choice. Don't know what I'll be using 2 years from now. But I am absolutely certain that I will be meeting people & sharing with them online. I'm certain that the Internet will be my primary course of information and content and I'm reasonably certain that my 9 year o;d granddaughter will be doing the same when she is my age.