The fact of the matter is, if you’re reading this, you’re likely wondering, “Wait, we have a school newspaper?” It makes sense! The only people who still get their news from a printed source are like, really old.
Mrs. Rush, the librarian here at Boise High, explained this transition to strictly digital media as: “…many periodicals have moved to strictly a digital platform, which affects all of them; if I’m reading online anyway, I might as well just stay online.”
Digital media has plenty of benefits. “Accessibility, convenience, searchability, interactivity, not to mention the positive environmental impact and space efficiency,” Mrs. Rush listed. “But there are several detriments as well… screen fatigue, information overload, copyright and ownership issues, privacy issues, along with a reduced emotional connection.”
With this new age of digitization, the future of print newspapers is uncertain. With digitization also comes artificial intelligence, which has evolved to the point where it can mimic a person’s writing style to an eerily uncanny degree. However, Mrs. Rush reassured that, “…I like to believe that though AI can come close to mimicking humans, it will never be human. There is still a human element to writing that makes it unique and special…that’s something we can’t really define, but I am confident that it can’t be replicated by AI either.”
Rush finished off by saying, “Human beings and their unique ability to create content is what makes writing fun and exciting. I have to believe that there will always be a need for the ‘human brand’ of entertainment and writing.” Boise Highlights remains a testament to that sentiment, as we’ve been printing since 1902, and hopefully will continue to print for many more years to come.
