Magazines in a Digital World

Do you like to read magazines? Or do you think they are a waste of money now that we can go online for anything and everything?

A large number of you do indeed think magazines have lost their relevance due to the internet – as tonylovesotis says “I can get the latest news and gossip from sites such as Twitter and pictures from all around the world that are much more timely.” The general consensus among Cafestudy members though, is yes – we do still enjoy magazines and there is still a place for them. They are seen by many people as a way to relax, and a little bit of a luxury. However many of you think the quality has massively declined in recent years, and the amount of advertising is way too high.

Among those of you who do still buy magazines, there is a split into a ‘traditional magazine reader’ camp and an ‘online reader’ camp. Traditional readers will go online if there is a competition to enter or if they want to look up more information about something they have read, however they prefer to have the physical magazine to read and re-read. Women in particular associate glossy magazines with enjoyment and relaxation, and don’t always see online as a substitute, but instead more of a complement.

Men, particularly younger men, are ahead of the ladies in tapping in to online reading – perhaps they don’t have the emotional association with magazines that women do, and the sense that reading a thick glossy magazine is a treat – a little me-time (and who doesn’t need that!). As Blondie72 says “I wouldn’t consider downloading my favourite magazines because I like to enjoy reading my magazines at the beach, by the pool, in the bathtub...”

For those women who are no longer buying as many magazines...or buying any at all, the main reasons are the rising cost of the magazines and the increasing amount of advertising. They are not always going online instead though. For those that do prefer online, it is generally on a tablet not a phone. So perhaps the main threat to traditional magazines is not so much the online content, but the tablet. Magazines do have a big advantage over iPads and other tablets though - the battery never runs out on a magazine!