Who does not like family magazines? Well, magazines themselves may be falling by the wayside, because online media is becoming much more popular. But a family magazine online is still a popular genre for everyone. Of course, online family magazines are not a substitute for hard copy. The reason is fairly obvious.
Magazines for family members can be a more communal activity when they are shared. When people have a print copy of family magazines they can share these items together. This is one of the ways that family magazines can help add a feeling of cohesiveness to a family.
It is uncertain whether people will continue to read these magazines or if, on the other hand, this will be one of the characteristics of family life which will disappear due to computers being so common. Just twenty years ago, a family might have felt completely isolated from current events or history without their subscriptions to Time Magazine on one hand or maybe the National Geographic.
However, this is changing. It is now possible to find beautiful photographs on the internet and one can get news on current events by subscribing online. Family magazines still have some great writers and illustrators working for them, but it is possible that family magazines will eventually be replaced by family websites.
Of course, this does not necessarily have to be such a bad thing. Currently, most reading devices are only built for one person, but it is conceivable that they could be redesigned to accommodate more than one reader, so that reading can become a communal activity again. For the moment, print magazines are not obsolete because they can still offer a lot that a digital magazine cannot. But that does not mean that readers will continue to believe that these benefits are worth it.
That is one question about the future of family magazines that only time can answer.