No, your sleep-deprived eyes do not deceive you. The North Pointe has joined the word of the Internet. From amateur to award-winning, newspapers and magazines are breaking into the business of the web. And now that we’re able to bring you up-to-date stories and the breaking news that we’re not able to with our standard two-week publishing system, expect a lot more content.

In our normal cycle, we have to assign out content (discarding anything that’s not relevant by our deadlines), design pages around ads, write the stories, place them on the pages, adjust them to work with the page design and lock them for production during our time frame. With the freedom of a blank web page and our tenacious web editors hard at work, the Internet allows for extensive opportunities.

But as papers follow the trend of moving online, many are completely shutting down their physical paper production, as it’s seen as costly, time-consuming and useless. But the ol’ fashion, ink printed, crisp feel of a true publication will forever be seen as the revolutionary newspaper that started in the 17 century.

Before instant communication became a trite occurrence and tweets about the weather became monotonous, worldly updates were seen as a privilege. But now we are jaded by an information surplus, and Sunday mornings spent scanning the vast pages of the paper are seen as an ancient art form. Those times are viewed as being for the old and technologically challenged.

Dedicated reporters, Pulitzer Prize winners and investigative journalists have put not only their careers but lives out on the line to provide the public with the information they craved. Breaking stories and scandals were awaited every day by anxious readers, waiting to be informed.

Online forums, news sites and publications, however, have reinstated an often forgotten aspect of beginning newspapers—the comments. As many publications would be available in public stores and venues, the last page used to be a blank page where readers would record their comments for others to read. With online stories often having a comment section at the bottom of the page, opinions, ideas and statements can be shared and read by not only those around you, but readers across the world.

So as the inevitable crossover to the realms of online have occurred, I ask you of one thing: when your eye burns from the electronic screen’s glare and a headache develops from endless page surfing, take some time and pick up a printed publication (preferably the North Pointe), and relish what has made your online life a possibility.