Do you prefer paper or electronic newsletters?
By Fleur
@Fleura (29677)
United Kingdom
November 20, 2023 4:57pm CST
I’m involved with various different organisations and support a range of charities, and quite rightly they all want to keep their members and supporters updated with what they are doing. But this can get a bit overwhelming as a stream of newsletters and magazines is constantly arriving.
In the ‘old days’ this mass of paper would accumulate around the house and most of the time I would put the various magazines in the bathroom where I would try to read one or two articles per day and would eventually get through them. And then I would often pass them on to someone else or use the pictures for some craft project.
But now many organisations have switched to electronic newsletters instead, saying that it saves paper and energy so is a more environmentally friendly option. It also gives the option to provide links to extra information, videos and other things that couldn’t be included in a paper magazine.
The problem for me is that when I’m at my desk I’m generally there to do some work or to look something up (or sometimes to pop on here), not generally to read.
And I’m not going to take my laptop into the toilet with me.
So the electronic newsletters keep coming and I keep not reading them. But I feel that I ought to read them and so I can’t just delete them. And when I have a magazine or newsletter from at least eleven different organisations arriving every month, that’s quite a lot of virtual articles I’m not getting around to reading.
But presumably just keeping them all there in my email inbox must be using computer memory, and therefore energy, too?
Aaargh! What to do??
The picture has nothing to do with the post, I just needed some calming flowers ![](/Content/images/emotes/happy.gif)
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16 people like this
16 responses
@Juliaacv (50051)
• Canada
21 Nov
@Fleura Oh yes, I do remember that.
Funny story on that topic............our last name is 10 letters long.
There is not alot of space in the phone book per line.
My hubby's name is Ron, his brother's names are Richard, Robert and Roger.
Yes, you guessed it, back in the day there was our last name, R
That was all, and we all took calls for each other it felt like.![](/Content/images/emotes/lol.gif)
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1 person likes this
@Fleura (29677)
• United Kingdom
21 Nov
@Juliaacv His parents didn't think of that when they chose names!
Funnily enough I remember years ago a friend was trying to choose names for her new (second) baby and I did recommend not using the same first initial to avoid problems with them receiving each other's mail etc. She thought I was mad to bother about that.
@snowy22315 (176745)
• United States
20 Nov
Electronic for me please. I have enough paper around.
2 people like this
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@kaylachan (65344)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
21 Nov
It doesn't take energy to store something on memory. But, since I can't read print electronic is the way to go. But you can be more selective with what you get, too.
2 people like this
@Fleura (29677)
• United Kingdom
21 Nov
Storing data (or at least putting it in and taking it out) does use energy. And cloud data storage uses a lot more. There's an interesting article here:
If I receive an email and it has a newsletter as an attachment, where is that newsletter 'really'? Presumably it isn't in my computer memory unless I download it, and yet it's accessible any time I want to open in, so where is it?
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (77609)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
20 Nov
Pretty flowers. I get some newsletters just to know what is going on, I no longer like to get real mail.
2 people like this
@vandana7 (99882)
• India
21 Nov
Moral of the story is, spend less time in toilet. Evil Grin...Kidding.
I too love long baths. That does not allow me to read there. As it is Indian toilets are not a place you would want to stay for more than a minute at the most. I am trying to improve mine...planning at this stage.
I often receive paper mail that I don't want. My father uses regular newspapers. Magazines..only in emails. We recycle paper so its not a big deal.
I do feel for you.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (81807)
• United States
21 Nov
I get most of my stuff via email and sometimes I miss the actual paper newsletters. Being tied to the computer to read can be a hassle so I can understand that you might prefer paper instead of electronic.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (334404)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Nov
I quite like paper copies as I find them easier to refer to if I want to go back for an particular article or dates or whatever. We don't get many newsletters and those we do get are mostly just a couple of pages. I can understand it's a bit of a headache for you.
1 person likes this
@sathviksouvik (18945)
•
21 Nov
Actually newspapers are more reader friendly. I prefer them. Staring at screen of computer is a painful exercise
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (170715)
• United States
21 Nov
I hate electronic newspapers and magazines. I like something in my hand and something I can tear an article or coupon out of if I'm interested. These tactics are so that the issuing companies save a bundle on printing costs. People must still print out statements, etc. for their records. Have a great day.
1 person likes this
@Fleura (29677)
• United Kingdom
21 Nov
Yes I get annoyed when banks etc say they are switching to electronic statements for the benefit of the environment. As you say, it's often necessary to print them anyway, so it just means that the customers have to bear the costs (and be responsible for the carbon emissions too, presumably!)
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (170715)
• United States
21 Nov
@Fleura Exactly; and the banks save themselves a ton of money.
1 person likes this
@TraveOnWorld (854)
• Georgia
21 Nov
I feel your full inbox![](/Content/images/emotes/lol.gif)
! We have to use the electronic method as we don't have a fixed address for post and we tend not to accumulate as it is too much move/store/get rid of again. As a book worm and knowledge gobbler, I used to accumulate at a fair rate and have now learnt, much as it pains me, to be happy with less. A few electronic ones at this time only and of course, the e-reader. But I do miss the lovely feel of a book so much!
Can you print out a few and maybe unsubscribe from the ones that really do not hold your interest so much. A cluttered inbox is just messy, it does not use a more energy but your mail host might tell you to compress or delete at some point.
A love the flowers!
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