May Anne Cacdac
The Iron Maiden
I HAD a very interesting dinner last Friday with members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist - Christian Science Committees on Publication assistant manager Norm Daley, Christian Science teacher Neera Kapur and Jerome Lacusong, health and wellness writer also from the Church.
Jerome gifted me with a book from their Church. I haven’t started on it yet since I have several (around 8) more books in line, but I will be sure to read it being interested in material that I haven’t been confronted with in the past.
Our conversation ranged from my experiences abroad to ancestral land claims and aboriginal rights. Here I believe we call it Indigenous Peoples rights. Norm, who hails from Canada but now based in the US, shared issues in the country are not unique citing the same issues back in the land of Canuck.
However, we spoke at length about the direction journalism is taking in the community.
I told Norm the newspaper community here in Baguio seems to be in denial. After all, we are a city with 15 news publications. Not counting those which come out only during elections.
While I don’t think the death of the newspaper will happen pretty soon, I don’t think we could look to our traditional readers, i.e. our senior citizens and fun page aficionados, to teach the younger generation to pick up the newspaper every morning thus creating a new demographic and market for us.
And while I dread the death of the printed newspaper, the gradual shift to a digitized edition is wanting, and whether we like it or not, must be prepared for it. Technology, more than we care to admit, has truly changed the way the newspaper industry is managed and “played”.
Norm then suggested for Sun.Star Baguio to create a program with elementary schools to encourage newspaper reading.
This could be worth the try but then again it raises the dilemma of having to do a revamp on your content.
And I don’t think our longtime readers will be happy with this. See, our current demographics will show you that they like reading on politics, local governance and what’s happening with their social pension.
Then again, I could target days for pieces intended for a younger audience and pray hard they don’t get distracted by their tablets and their smartphones since they could easily access our paper’s content through our dedicated website.
Stressful sometimes this game called “technology”. And too much stress they say can be bad for your health.
On the other hand, we have a multitude of health applications now available at our fingertips.
The iPhone has a built in health feature that tells you how many steps you’ve taken today. Or how many calories you’ve consumed.
We have health apps that teach you yoga or the 20 minute workout which makes the perennial excuse, “I have no time to exercise,” seem inexcusable.
But there is a danger in this as Norm has pointed out.
People may take on the crazy idea that these health applications are accurate and discount the basics of good health – eating right, hydration and even spirituality.
This as he asked if I still had time for dessert.
“There is always time and room for dessert,” I said.
And so over my crème brulee and brewed coffee he asked if I had health apps in my phone.
“None,” I said.
I used to have a pedometer app. I really thought it was going to encourage me to take more steps. At least achieve half the prescribed 2,000 steps every day. Wait, is it 2,000?
I don’t even remember anymore.
I used to have that exercise app as well which promised a full body workout all in 7 minutes. I thought I was going to develop appendicitis with that one. So I deleted it as well.
I don’t want to listen to technology anymore. I believe I am healthy enough. I believe the newspaper industry, at least here in Baguio, is healthy as well.
Wait. What?
See I told you. Denial is man's most frequently used defense mechanism.