Paper, What Else?

Information arrives in a constant stream through our e-mail inboxes thanks to the Smartphones and Tablets many of us are never without, kept as close as the most highly cherished of talismans. The most recently discovered crime, the latest revolution, the victory or defeat of sports teams, political decisions, breaking economic news, etc., all part of an endless media bombardment encrusted in advertising for everything and anything.

With the opening of the newspaper on the train after work, or in the evening calm at home, we get that feeling of déjà vu, pointlessness… so what’s new? However it is enough just to delve into an article to realize that we do not know all that much about our extremely complex and diverse societies, with the facts reduced to a few hundred signs that offer a caricature of the reality. It is one of the paradoxes of this era of the invasion of digital information that we have created a tool that simplifies content whilst any real understanding assumes the inclusion of a vast number of parameters. It is increasingly the medium that determines the message as McLuhan claimed in his own way back in the 1970’s.

Newspapers and magazines are well aware that their strength and their unique selling point lies in analyses and reflection and are already well along this route. This was to a certain extent the opportunity for paper to become a more comprehensive information support, providing increased insight. But now the Tablet makes it possible to flick through a magazine and so takes even this function away from paper. Books are headed in the same direction thanks to e-readers.