Digital Life

We are told that post COVID-19 many things will change for ever.

I’m not certain about that, but I can confirm one permanent change that has taken place in the Webster household. We now receive our daily newspapers online, rather than on paper, and I don’t regret it at all.

The decision was rather forced on me, initially, when at the start of lockdown our newsagent gave up deliveries. I don’t blame him; it’s a pretty thankless and not very lucrative service at the best of times. So I had either to collect it myself each day or take the drastic step of going online. I chose the latter.

By online, what I really mean is on-tablet. You need to have an ipad or the non-apple (Android) equivalent that can run the application (or ‘app’) supplied by each newspaper – but you need not pay a fortune.

A basic Android tablet can be had for less than £100, or less than £200 if you want a bigger screen (which I recommend); ipads are more expensive (over £300) but have very loyal followers who say they are worth the extra. I don’t think they are, if all you are using them for is reading the papers, but each to his own. Either kind can also be bought more cheaply second-hand from the likes of musicmagpie.co.uk or uk.webuy.com.

The newspapers’ apps also work on smartphones; this is, like a warm gin and tonic, acceptable in a crisis, but to my mind they are too small for extended reading.

Each member of your household needs a tablet: you can download the morning paper onto all of them under the terms of a single subscription. This means that my wife and I each have our own copy; no more fighting over the various sections at breakfast.

Once you’ve bitten the bullet and sustained this capital outlay, the savings are significant. The Telegraph is currently offering a year of online newspapers for £197; it’s £728 if you want it in print as well. The Times want £312 for a year online, or £780 for print copies as well. Add to that the cost of delivery, and you are rapidly heading towards £1,000 pa, just for the pleasure of having something to use to line the guinea pig’s cage. The Oldie is an even bigger bargain at £29.99 for 12 issues, digital only.

I had not really noticed how expensive print newspapers had become; this sort of thing does rather creep up on you. The financial savings alone are enough to persuade me to stay digital, but also my wife tells me that since starting to read her newspaper on an ipad she has been reading far more of it, and is far more inclined to finish an article.

I should add that it’s a very different experience from reading a newspaper’s website. You really do download one day’s whole newspaper, organised in sections, onto your tablet, and it stays there for as long as you wish. By comparison, a paper’s website will be different each time you look at it.

I’m a bit late to the party. Most newspapers, here and in America, have more digital than print subscribers. I suppose the writing is on the wall for print editions.

The only problem is the crossword. You can do it on the tablet. It is very clever technology but, after so many years of scribbling in the margins to work out anagrams and so on, I can’t get used to it. But I probably shall, in time, and in the meantime I am hundreds of pounds better off each year – and fewer trees have been sacrificed.