Random Musing: Why are Magazines Still a Thing?

What’s this musing about: Why do people publish magazines anymore?

I intended to do a review of Smithsonian Magazine. I would give it the insightful and serious review I do the books I read. While reading my third month of the magazine, it dawned on me. What’s the point here?

The first thing I did was go to the Smithsonian Magazine website. I cross checked to see if I could find the articles in the magazine online. Yes, I could.

Well then, what’s the point here? Technology has taken a hit out of a lot of things: the home telephone, CDs, the phone book. So why haven’t magazines become completely extinct?

They are starting to, but it seems like some are still slipping through the cracks. Smithsonian is a bit of a head scratcher for me though. I love history enough to make a website about it, but I have no illusions about how many more of me are out there. I even thought about where do magazines still make sense. I could only thing of one very specific situation.

At the doctor’s office, while waiting for an appointment, and your 4-year-old needs to watch YouTube on your phone, or she will tear everything down. Then it’s time for a magazine!

Granted, you could call me a hypocrite for writing this while still owning 600 physical books. I would then point you to my musing about why and tell you to pay attention!

In conclusion, Smithsonian Magazine is really good! But you only need to go to the website. So, I guess Smithsonian Magazine online is really good and free!