Newspapers aren’t dying, they’re only sick with the digital age fever. They’re currently fighting for any sort of advantage in the technological war and it’s going to be a tough one.

The large success of the digital age stems profusely from the idea of free information in bulk quantities and the global connection it provides. If newspapers begin charging for the dailies online, will customers pay?

Already so many people spend every minute behind monitors, relying heavily on internet providers and functioning computers for banking, work, school-the list goes on and on-so transitioning from paper to computer will be easy for those who have kept up with the digital age, and not so easy for those who have turned a cold shoulder to the new found superhighway.

But, it has been shown newspapers that cut print issues-usually because of a dire financial state-tend to lose money. Instead of thriving as a booming new market, online-only newspapers usually act as an attempted solution to save a faltering newspaper.

The advantage of online newspapers is their ability to be constantly updated, providing live retractions, corrections and breaking news.

The best thing about newspapers going electronic is the option to view pages as they would have appeared in print. That way, design concepts will not be abandoned and readers who prefer the look of newsprint can still access their daily and only pray the connection works.

But newspapers have made themselves pretty comfortable in the hands of the public; people like to subscribe to their special paper, and be able to carry it with one hand in front of their face, or fold it under their arm for travel, or scribble all over it for fun. Computers limit readers to a sitting position with a wall connection.

Sure, a large amount of newspapers should be provided online, but print issues shouldn’t be eliminated. The best thing that could happen is access to online and print newspapers, even if the amount of papers produced declines. One version doesn’t have to ‘die’ for the other to exist.

Technology offers great benefits, but once your electrical power or Internet access is gone, so is your text, and that’s a problem.