Print has an enduring value

We constantly hear that we will no longer need print. However, we believe print's value is increasing in a world of digital distraction, shallow learning and increasing polarization as people shift from focusing on local news to national television outlets and the internet.

"As a professor of linguistics, I have been studying how electronic communication compares to traditional print when it comes to learning," Naomi S. Baron, a professor of Linguistics at American University, writes. "Is comprehension the same whether a person reads a text onscreen or on paper? And are listening and viewing content as effective as reading the written word when covering the same material?"

The answers to both questions are often "no," she says. "The reasons relate to a variety of factors, including diminished concentration, an entertainment mindset, and a tendency to multitask while consuming digital content."

When we read a subject in print, we are better at identifying its central theme, drawing conclusions from a set of facts, and recalling subjects we saw and read.

Baron says that grade school children, college students and American citizens who read news about their communities have a deeper comprehension of subjects when experienced in print.

So, when digital devotees give glowing reviews for a digital-only future for what we read, they doom us to a future of less comprehension, a worse memory, stunted insight and an inability to focus. They push us into a world where our focus is no longer local but shallow, national and polarizing.

Print's value comes from its physical form. "With paper, there is a literal laying on of hands, along with the visual geography of distinct pages. People often link their memory of what they've read to how far into the book it was or where it was on the page," Roger Dooley of Forbes magazine writes.

When we read print, we are more relaxed, patiently ready to absorb what we see and recall it better. Online, our mind wanders; it is impatient to move on to the next stimulus that excites us, giving us a little hit of dopamine – a hormone our body produces that creates a sense of pleasure and satisfaction. It's addictive. Social media sites have studied this pleasure trigger deeply, mastering how to employ it to trap us into spending hours fixated on our phones.

"The latest research shows that people are 70 percent more likely to remember a brand they see in print compared to online," Abigail Wise, a writer and editor with more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media, says.

In requiring deeper engagement, print's physical form creates a higher level of trust in what is being presented, Wise says.

"A neurological study by Temple University in 2015 also found that people are more likely to remember an advertisement (and where they saw it) one week after viewing it when the advertisement was seen in print rather than online," Wise writes. "In other words, there's something about printed information that the human brain enjoys and connects with that online information simply can't always match."

Retail giants like Amazon and Wayfair, brands like Eddie Bauer and Land's End, and even Google do print advertising. Tens of millions of catalogs are mailed to our homes because retailers recognize that if they are not present in print, their brands are out of sight and out of mind.

These companies know a physical presence is essential to remind customers of your existence persistently. Emails go into spam folders or are buried by the steady stream of messages coming at us. Online adblockers are more frequently used.

Temple University researchers found we're much more likely to be emotionally motivated by physical advertisements or printed media. "The study also found that it's more probable for us to develop a subconscious desire for the product or service being advertised if we see it in print," an article in B&B Press states.

With your message in print, the "reader has an opportunity to pause, connect, and engage in a deeper way than consuming that message on a 'distraction device,'" Patricia Alexander and Lauren Singer write in The Conversation.

You are all in your own world on your phone or computer, but a newspaper is communal. It is shared and seen by multiple people in your service area.

"People have rediscovered the value of reading from paper. They have rediscovered the value of having something physical in their hands that will not fade or disappear in seconds," Managing Director of Print Power Europe Ulbe Jelluma says. "Something they can put aside and restart reading without feeling pressured for time. They have had the time and attention to give to reading longer form content. More time and attention also implies increased response rates for direct mail and door drops."

While digital gives reach, how much of that reach is meaningful? Being visible locally and in the immediate region of your sales potential is where you should be targeting your messages.

A digital water tower, a streaming video of a basketball game at your high school gymnasium, or a digital picture of your community celebration – even if it is a live feed – is not the same as the physical experience. It lacks the pulsing energy, camaraderie, high-fives, smiles at a big victory and shared pain of a loss. It lacks the feel of being present.

All these experiences and emotions bring us closer together as a community. We experience life together, not isolated in our homes. If you want to feel less lonely, attend community events, high school games and local board and commission meetings – you'll feel part of something bigger than yourself; you will gain a sense of belonging and value.

You have a richer experience when you are present in the moment where it is happening. Your connection to a brand, a cherished memory or a book your read is deeper when it is experienced in print.

Editor's Note: This editorial originally appeared in the July 24 issue of the Grant County Herald, in publisher Reed Anfinson's column, "A Drop of Ink." The Grant County Herald is based in Elbow Lake, Minn. Anfinson has served as president of both the Minnesota Newspaper Association and the National Newspaper Association.