The sad decline of the newsstand

South Station

A newsstand in New York City before the print implosion.

— Photo by Neutrality, Talk

Adapted from Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

To my dismay, there was no newsstand in Boston’s South Station, New England’s biggest train station, when I walked through it the other week. Maybe they’ll bring one back: They’re doing a lot of construction there.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the years browsing the now-disappeared stand and many others at home and abroad.

Big newsstands are a joy, with lots of serendipity, but they’re disappearing. Too bad. You see all sorts of magazines you wouldn’t usually have access to. And buying and leafing through a paper publication is more enjoyable than reading  on a screen. Further, your retention of what you read is better, say neurologists. Big newsstands make waiting at a train or bus station or airport less onerous.

Porn or semi-porn magazines used to be widely available on newsstands, amongst the more dignified materials, but wrapped in camouflage. Now, with the World Wide Web drenched in porn, the paper version of it is disappearing. Can’t compete! An advance for public order and morality?