Control Your Algorithm: Read a Sunday Newspaper

Even though reading might not be dead, the Sunday morning newspaper seems to be. Well, at least the print version seems to be dead.

For years, I’ve been saying that with the internet every day is Sunday. Back in the 1970s, Sunday mornings used to be awesome because of the Sunday morning newspaper, which was thick and had stuff that everybody in my family wanted to see, even though all of us had different interests. I liked the ten-page full-color comics section. My sister would grab the fashion section. My oldest brother liked the sports section, especially during football season and the Sunday paper’s in-depth coverage of Saturday’s college games. My parents avidly read the news, opinion, and business sections. Everybody fought for first dibs on the weekly TV guide insert.

But now with the internet, everyday is Sunday because you can get all of that online any time, and there isn’t any paper mess around the house at the end of the day. Anybody can get much more information and entertainment online than they can from even the thickest, most comprehensive Sunday morning newspaper.  Plus, much of the internet is up-to-date while a Sunday newspaper is outdated before it’s even been printed.  The internet might require more energy usage, but Sunday newspapers leave a mess of loose long sheets of paper littering the furniture and floors.

If that’s the case, then why even bother reading a Sunday newspaper?

For me, it’s about adding to my internet algorithm.  I don’t mind the idea of the algorithm as much as some people do, but I don’t like giving the algorithms too much control. Sometimes they rely too much on my previous history, which means that they give me stuff that I’m already too familiar with.  Some algorithms try to force stuff that I don’t want on to me.  For example, I despise rage bait, but some platforms sneak it into my feed because it promotes the most engagement amongst the general public (allegedly).  I don’t like being manipulated like that.

Yes, the topics and information in the Sunday newspaper are curated as well, but some of the subject matter will be new to almost anybody.  When something in the Sunday paper interests me, I research the topics online and the algorithms in turn will add these topics to the stuff they recommend.  Some social media platforms will even give me rage bait videos of people arguing with each other about these topics.  Haha!  Rage bait.  Always rage bait.

A good Sunday paper covers a wide variety of topics, so it’s bound to have something that you’re not familiar with.  Since I live in Texas, my newspaper (I don’t live in the city of this newspaper) is focused on local stuff more than a national paper like USA Today would, but this is the type of paper I read for 30 years when the daily newspaper was a part of the daily routine.

For 15 years, I gently teased my stepdad for still having a daily newspaper delivered to his front porch every morning.  I wasn’t mean about it, I hope.  Sometimes I’d say stuff like “You’re STILL getting these?” or my favorite “With the internet, everyday is a Sunday newspaper,” but it was a cool feeling every morning to get up late at their house, walk into the living room, and see the morning paper strewn all over the sofas.  I’d just get my coffee, sit down wherever I could find a space in the living room, and grab the comic section, the sports section, or whatever section that happened to be available.  It’s a great way to start a day. 

No matter where you go for information, whether it’s online, the library, a bookstore, the newspaper, television, somebody is curating the information or research material that is immediately presented to you.  Decades ago (not that many decades either), the newspaper was one of very few sources for news.  Now it’s one of the least utilized but still important news sources available.  You don’t have to read it every day to get ideas from it. But when your algorithm feels stale or you just need a change of pace, grab a newspaper.  And if you want the best newspaper, get a hold of a Sunday newspaper. It’s not as great as it used to be, but it can still be useful and relevant.

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Enough about me and my opinions! What do you think? Have you had similar (or even different experiences) with the Sunday newspaper? What are some other ways that you control your online algorithms? What other purposes (besides box packaging filler) does a newspaper serve? Leave a comment below!

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