Importance of Reading Newspaper in Our Daily Life

What would be the world like if there were no news or newspaper? Would we know of what’s happening in the other parts of the country or the world? Is it important for us to know what is happening elsewhere? How does it affect us anyway? Is reading a newspaper important?

1. What is a newspaper?

Now let us first ask, “what is a newspaper?”. It is a kind of magazine exclusively designed to keep us informed about certain things happening around us. What a newspaper brings us every day is news that we must know. It is usually something out of the ordinary that makes it to the news. Therefore, there is a lot of importance of news in our daily lives.

2. Importance of news in our daily life

For example, let’s talk about political matters. We must know which party has won the elections and will be making the government. This would impact our long-term daily life. We must know how the financial budget will be designed for the current year. It would give us an insight into how we should plan our money matters. The newspaper gives a detailed breakdown of that. We must know if there are very big pieces of news which can affect our lives a lot. Like, due to the Indo-Pak tension this year, a lot of commercial flights were diverted from that area which resulted in the increase of flying time between certain cities for a long period of time.

So, definitely, the people flying in those flights needed to know of this change. Such kind of things also majorly affects our share market a lot, making it necessary for people associated with it to keep themselves aware of it.

Reading newspapers can also boost our confidence and earn respect from our peers. Let us imagine that you are with a group of friends or with your colleagues waiting for a meeting to start. Some of them start discussing an ongoing burning topic. You have no clue what is it about and also do not want to give away that you are unaware. This would land you up simply scratching your head mentally either thinking what to talk or praying for them to change the topic.

Now let us imagine the opposite. Somebody in your group starts talking about a topic. Since you now have been reading a newspaper regularly you take the lead and start sharing your views. This would not only help your personality to shine but also would leave others having a good impression about you if done positively.

Smaller things in life like local news, news about sports and entertainment also plays an important role in our daily life. It helps us to know whatever is happening in our city. If there is road maintenance work going on in a certain area that could divert the traffic, to food festivals to sales and discounts in malls. The weather news also becomes important for us when we face the scorching heat of the sun in the summer and look forward to the news which tells us when would the monsoon commences in our part of the country. It also keeps us informed about the crime happening in our area and how by doing certain things we can avoid falling into a trap.

Reading a newspaper daily keeps us aware of things which may be important to us. In today’s world where information is power, it can help us in a lot of ways. This can be true for professionals, businessmen, students, housewives, etc. The newspaper would have some of the other things for each of these categories. Some newspapers also include weekly additions like that of a career page, lifestyle page, etc. which are generally out of the traditional news genre.

There are also newspapers that cater to our finances. These are so educational and informative. If you are just starting as a working professional or already an established one or somebody planning your retirement savings early then these ones guide you with what you should be doing with your money.

The advertisements in the newspaper can also be useful to make an informed decision in case you want to buy anything. One can also place an ad themselves for matrimony or announcement of a sad demise.

3. The importance of reading newspaper for students

The importance of reading newspapers for students can be a lot ranging from knowing the career trends to knowing the top colleges in their area of interest. It also helps them increase their general knowledge about the world. Students are particularly subjected to two groups of social circle – their family and their school and both do not always give the necessary knowledge of the society outside this. A lot of schools conduct quiz competition or have this subject of general knowledge which requires students to read newspapers.

Reading newspapers also helps students in their competitive examinations. It also helps them to learn how to frame English sentences in correct grammar if they are interested to learn this language. Reading newspapers daily also helps students with a lot of new vocabulary and how they can be used in sentences. Another benefit for students is the low cost of the newspaper. If you are someone who stays in a hostel or as a paying guest then affording the newspaper is much easier than for arranging television and paying for the channels. Also, if you are someone looking to appear for entrance exams then the newspaper can help you know the dates and also when and where the forms would be available.

4. Consuming news over television versus newspaper

One can also listen to the news on TV which runs round the clock these days. You just have to sit and relax. This one is easier for a lot of people. However, over a period of time, you will notice that there are numerous advertisements which can be annoying and for a long duration. If you have ever switched channels during advertisements then you would have noticed that all the news channels display ads around the same time. A similar thing also happens when there is breaking news.

If you do not like that content and switch to a different channel then you would see that even that channel is showing the same piece of news. Also, the channels have the habit of repeating the same news or go on discussing the same thing when they do not have much content. There is a new trend these years of having a debate during primetime. There would be people from all walks of life screaming and shouting at each other making the show look like a circus. You will be saved if you are more of a newspaper person. If there is particular news or topic that you do not like or are not interested then you can simply switch to a different article or flip the page.

5. Advantages of newspaper over the internet

News on social media is a trend these days. But you do not have a choice over them. They just pop up on your page on the basis of how viral it was, was it trending or not or could be based on what you like to see on your account. But with a newspaper, you get to see news from all the sections of society. You can then choose from this wide range of variety. Reading news off of social media is also a great way to cut down on your screen time. People have the habit of being on their phone continuously for hours together especially before bed.

There are so many unnecessary videos out there that you can get distracted from reading the news. Moreover, you would need to wear headsets if you are doing this in a public place or if your partner or child is sleeping to prevent disturbing them in case you are watching the news in the form of video on social media. You do not have to think so much when reading a newspaper. You can benefit from these advantages of newspapers over the internet.

Another advantage of the newspaper is that it can be recycled and reused therefore making it more environment-friendly. It can be turned into a bag, used for covering books for students, etc. You may also collect old newspapers to sell them and make some money.

6. Disadvantages of newspaper

There are some disadvantages of a newspaper. Like, the reading newspaper can sometimes get boring. It can also be tiring as you really have to concentrate to read. If this is something that you take out time for after you come from school, college or office then chances are that you might just skip doing it. Also, it can annoy other family members that you are not spending time with them, giving them attention or even helping them with household chores.

We have all seen our dads bury their heads into the newspaper and our moms trying hard to communicate with them.  It might not also be possible for you to make it a morning ritual as you would be in a hurry to get ready and hit the road.

In order to avoid this, read it when you have time in hand and also energy. If you are somebody who goes to college or office by bus then carrying it in your bag and reading it while you are commuting would be a wonderful idea to kill two birds with one stone. You can also express read the headlines and another four to five sentences after that in a news piece to keep yourself updated.

So, as we have seen here, reading newspaper helps us to stay tuned to important updates, gain knowledge, learn a language, etc. We must also remember to fold it up when our loved ones require it!