[GlenBarrington]

My wife and I have gotten out of the habit. I'd like to say it was some big philosophical reason for the betterment of all mankind, but the real reason was that in an age of recycling, dealing with yesterday's news, and the paper it came on, was a major PITA. It was SO much easier to buy when you knew you could just throw it away!

At any rate, in spite of our status as late middle-aged fuddy duddies (late 50's early 60's), we had grown quite used to getting our news over the internet either on our tablets, phones, or PC.

However, for some reason, my wife, bought the Sunday Paper yesterday. For old times sake, I guess.

One positive aspect was that we had a better idea of what is going on in the local community. The internet makes us global citizens, but it sort of strips us of our local interests. The local newspaper has a web site, but frankly, we never look at it, and I'm disinclined to pay for an online subscription. I like knowing the local Kiwanis chapter is having a fish fry next week, but I'm not willing to pay for that information.

But overall, I'd say the process was sort of unpleasant. The paper was physically smaller than I remember, maybe 8 - 10 inches from edge to fold and maybe 18 - 22 inches tall. It was not optimal for reading at all. (When I read papers regularly, I was a 'folder'). The page was too tall for the width and it was hard to hold.

The paper felt physically 'dirty' to me. The ink and paper dust coated my hands and I couldn't wait to wash them.

And the sheer NUMBER of advertising inserts was overwhelming! And some advertisers had the same ad insert included twice. My wife said she enjoyed clipping grocery coupons though, and missed that from when the kids were growing up.

Will we likely buy a newspaper today? Definitely not. Would we buy a Sunday newspaper next week? Probably not. And I've still got to get rid yesterday's newspaper.

Have you bought a newspaper lately?