What a morning without notifications gave back to us
Five reporters from the Editorial Desk agreed to get a printed newspaper every morning for a month. The rule was simple: read the paper instead of your phone for 30 minutes before work, and write a short note each week about what you noticed.
Week One: News with an Ending
The first thing we noticed was that a newspaper has an end. Close the last page and today’s news is over. For people used to endless feeds, that ending felt both strange and comforting.
Week Two: Stories We Never Wanted
A printed paper shows us stories we didn’t choose: an item from the agriculture page, news of a local cultural event, a few short lines in the obituaries that we would normally have skipped. Those stories, which an algorithm would have filtered out, unexpectedly broadened our days.
A newspaper shows not what I want but what the world went through today.
From a participating reporter’s notes
A month later
- Morning phone time fell by an average of 40 minutes
- Three of the five decided to keep subscribing
- We talked with family about what we read more often
- The recycling pile grew larger than expected
We aren’t saying print is the answer. But reading news that has an ending, once a day, gave back more than we expected. Reading a set amount and then closing the paper may be the full stop we had lost.
I enjoyed reading about your month with the print paper. I still read the weekend edition on paper, and the stories I stumble on while turning pages are the ones that stay with me longest.