For nearly a century, the yearbook has been as much a part of high school as the prom and Friday night football games—but that’s now changing, reports the Omaha World-Herald. Several Omaha schools have scaled back, ordering only enough yearbooks to cover advance sales. Some books have fewer pages. And the traditional hardbound yearbook is history at some Midlands schools, including Omaha’s Benson High and Madison High School. Fewer students are buying yearbooks. Some observers say the Facebook and Twitter generation doesn’t see value in a tangible record of their memories.
And yearbook advisers tend to talk soberly about the future. “Conversations among journalism teachers three or four years ago used to be about how to get that last push from yearbook sales,” said Jerred Zegelis, Benson’s journalism teacher. “Now, it’s how to survive.” One reason for the drop in sales is the increased popularity of digital cameras, said Madison High yearbook adviser Linda Lockhart. “It’s cheap. It’s easy,” she said. “You can put your photos on your computer, and you’ve got them forever … in theory.” Yearbook advocates, however, say there’s value in putting a year’s worth of memories in a single volume that students can pull off the shelf and leaf through when they feel like it for the rest of their lives. And some people worry that going digital with such keepsakes isn’t a good idea, especially when technology is ever-changing…
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