By: Kayleigh Omang

omangka@mnstate.edu

I’m going to be straight with you—as hard as being editor-in-chief was, saying goodbye was even harder.

We as college students are at a time in our lives where the “goodbyes” and “hellos” are frequent. We say goodbye to high school and hello to college. Goodbye to one job and hello to the next, and the heartbreaking goodbye to one boyfriend and hopeful hello to someone new.

For me this time, it’s goodbye to The Advocate and hello to my future career in wedding photography. However, it’s not really as much of a hello as it is, “Hi, it’s me again.”

Looking back at the year, we had a lot of rough roads and speed bumps. I could name everything that caused me to gain too much weight, accumulate too many grey hairs for my age, and transform me into this wise old leader ready to throw in the towel and head for the grave, but there are too many situations to name and I don’t want to bore you.

However, it does all come down to the problem in society today—are we moving past paper and print? Are we saying goodbye to print news and hello to online blogs and news sites?

Inevitably, in my opinion, yes. We are. But are we ready? I sure am not. As a person who still only uses a printed agenda and not Google Calendar, I can’t let go of paper and ink.

Regardless of my personal preferences, I held onto our print edition of The Advocate for far too long. In an age where you walk down the hallways to see everyone with their heads down and eyes on screens, being connected to the world is being connected to your phone—not the person next to you, not the neighbor down the street, not the paper in the newsstand, and not the voice on the radio or the face on the television. News is literally in the palm of your hand. Hell, even I get a buzz in my back pocket with the latest scandal screaming at me to find out more.

When I should have put MSUM’s news in your back pocket, I instead threw it in a newsstand, as The Advocate has always done; in the end, it drained our bank account dry.

Advertisers are no longer interested in print news. The real market is also on your phone or your computer screen, and hey—money talks, right?

So as I say goodbye to being the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and hello to the new editors of the paper, it’s also time to say goodbye to the weekly publication to The Advocate and hello to getting my news on campus from the device we all carry and care so much about.