Why Jobs is an Idiot, er, Why We Read More
March 17th, 2008 | by Brad King |A few months back, Steve Jobs announced to the world that we are reading less today than we ever have before.
I almost spit out my corn flakes. I ripped off a blog about the ignorance — and arrogance — of that statement. It’s as if Jobs, one of the men behind the computer revolution, completely forgot that we create and read more today than at any point in history. It’s not like we’re just staring at a blank computer screen hoping something happens.
Of course, he said that in response to Amazon’s Kindle, which likely means Apple is getting ready to push a digital reader to “save” the publishing industry as he did with digital music.
My writing partner, who was also incensed (and much smarter than me), rarely gets publicly annoyed. Jobs even annoyed him.
All of this brings me to today’s ReadWriteWeb post, using actual facts to back up the ranting and raving that I had done. If you think we’re reading less (pay attention newspaper people who think the young ones aren’t reading), trying reading this.
At a time when newspapers are desperately looking for new business models, it’s imperative for them to realize that the kids are reading. You don’t need to do “cool” stories. These are intelligent human beings. What you do need to do is provide them news and information in the way they are used to getting their data.
Don’t listen to Jobs. Don’t listen to your “gut” that says kids aren’t reading.
They are. They just aren’t doing it around you because you don’t live in their world.
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