Sad Times

One of the plum parts of my job has been getting the NY Times delivered to my house. Before I started working for Vervago I knew zero about business, and reading the Times has allowed me to learn a great deal about how the world looks from the business perspective, as well as keep up with news about some of our biggest clients.

Then I started to have second thoughts. Most days I did not read anything more than the biz section, which meant I was recycling piles of paper that I had not used. So I switched my subscription to only the digital edition. But that didn't work either; I had plenty to read on my computer already, and most days I did not turn to the Times because of all that other reading. Also, I was already spending lots of time in front of the screen, and I needed to do some reading away from my laptop. It was not convenient to bring my laptop to field hockey practices and orthodontist appointments, and even if it were, my eyes needed a break from the back-lit screen. So I re-upped for the paper version and I have been a happy and portable Times reader again.


But now I have a Kindle, and I have signed up for the two-week free trial of the Times, and it is fantastic. All the mobility of the paper version, plus the "greenness" of the lack of paper, and I am hooked. I can take it anywhere, getting my break from the laptop, without filling my recycling bin. So this morning I called the Times and once again shifted to the digital-only edition (as kind of a backup, and to keep supporting the Times financially, and in case I can't kick my crossword puzzle addiction). The woman to whom I spoke was not happy to hear of my decision. When I told her I was replacing the paper with the Kindle version, but wanted to keep the electronic edition on my laptop as well, she informed me of the limitations of the Kindle edition (no stocks, crossword, only one b/w photo per story). I reminded her I was willing to keep the electronic edition as well as the Kindle. She suggested I might want to keep the Sunday paper "to get the best of both worlds." I declined. She put me on hold to process my request, but when she came back on she offered me 6 months of the Sunday paper at half-off. I declined again.

I realize the newspaper industry is undergoing a seismic shift in distribution model. I know we need to pay for good reporting. But the Times is clearly viewing the Kindle edition not as a new opportunity but as a cannibalizing of the paper version. I hope they are wrong, but I do not plan to go back to a paper newspaper any time soon.

Today's Thought about Single-Tasking: DWC

That's Driving While Cellphoning. I am going to try to end, or at least severely curb, this habit. This article from the NY Times scared me. Not only is it obvious that even talking on the phone--even with a hands-free kit--is dangerous to me, it endangers everyone else on the road too. It scared me as the father of one kid with a permit and another who can't wait to get hers--I need to model safe driving habits for them. Not only are the arguments in favor of DWC--you're attacking my freedom, you can't make stupidity illegal, the cellphone companies are "neutral" on the topic--all sound like what the tobacco companies said about smoking, or the beer companies said about drunk driving.

What's really frightening to me is to read that there's a tiny adrenaline rush when we are contacted electronically. As someone who has fallen madly for his iPhone in the 2.5 months I've owned it, who uses a 5 minute wait at the end of marching band rehearsal or field hockey practice to check my email, who now is lusting for a Kindle, ... wow, my addiction is worse than I thought.



I have already been practicing only dialing my phone when I first get in my car. But now I am thinking that the phone can stay on only in case there is a real emergency. I will answer only with my hands-free. If it's not an emergency, I end the call. I need to be careful, and I want my kids to be careful too.