Times have changed! Remember getting the newspaper delivered every day?

Long before the Internet came to be and television was just beginning to reach Australian households, the main way to receive the news was through newspapers. The pages of worldly updates would roll off the press around midnight and swiftly get rolled up with a rubber band ready for delivery to homes around the country.

Many baby boomers were part of the process in their youth, working as delivery boys and girls. It was quite common for youngsters to hop on their bikes or scooters and ride from house to house before school, stuffing papers in letterboxes or tossing them over fences before shouting “coo-wee” to the homeowner.

However, over time delivery boys have been phased out, partly because of the decline of newspapers and move to digital news, and partly due to the concern for the safety of unescorted children roaming the streets. Instead, newspapers which still offer delivery are delivered to homes by adults in cars. But, even this is slowly but surely disappearing.

Last year Nine and News Corp announced the end to newsagent-led home deliveries for their print titles in Sydney’s metro market including The Australian and The Daily Telegraph. Newsagents across parts of Sydney and New South Wales were asked to stop delivering newspapers from March 2020, with the job instead taken over by the National Distribution Services Pty Ltd and News Emporium Pty Ltd. It was marked as an “end of an era” by many and was a further realisation that the online world is taking over.

While the main city newspapers are still around today, many smaller community newspapers have been forced to stop altogether due to declining readership. Even the major publications have turned to online to support their readers, with a few clicks of a button directing them to the latest news on their phone or computer. There’s no more waiting to receive the news in the morning and people can easily find out what’s going on while sitting on the bus, or when out with friends at any time of the day.

Of course, there are positives to this method, but for some, it’s quite sad. There was something special about waking up each morning to the daily newspaper sitting at the doorstep. Parents would sit back with a cup of coffee and a piece of toast for breakfast and read through the newspaper while getting ready for work. It became part of their morning routine. Sadly, today’s youth won’t get to experience this.

Instead, they’ll simply sign up for an online subscription and receive notifications through their email or directly to their phone. Instead of purchasing a newspaper in-store, a small fee will be paid to view the content through an online platform. Usually, major publications put part of the article behind a paywall, so people have to pay in order to view all of the content. It’s a smart way to do business and people are quickly jumping on board the idea.

But, it’s a world away from what Baby Boomers experienced as kids, and it will be up to them to share the memories of “old-school” newspapers in the years to come. Perhaps, they even have some newspapers stored from their childhood which they can look back on and remember fondly.