Magazines - entertaining or demoralising?

I think this must reflect the type of magazine you read.
If I had the spare cash I'd take Interiors, Surface, Selvedge, Dezeen, Wallpaper.... I could go on.
I don't think any of these are demoralising!
All are interesting and beautiful!

I get the Peoples Friend which has short stories, usually a knitting pattern, recipes, an article on a place and a few regular contributors. Very feel good unlike a lot of magazines which just seem to look at the seedier side of life

I love house magazines, but they got that expensive that I could of bought a book for the same price so I cancelled my subscriptions on the both of them.

I stopped buying them after I counted the pages of advertisements in a glossy mag - IIRC it was about 70% of the mag!
I’ll still read anything like GH or interiors/antiques while at the hairdresser or dentist, though.

It was ages ago, but I do remember a very funny Posy Simmonds cartoon strip about someone reading the sort of ‘perfect life’ article you mean, OP. The reader’s face became gradually more hacked off as she read the sheer gushingness - and eventually stuffed the whole thing in the bin!

NotTooOld

Grandmajean

I used to like Good Housekeeping but don't buy it any more. Got really fed up with the "I love getting older" articles from famous women whose photos have so obviously been treated to wrinkle removal. I also got tired of the Christmas editions where everybody was hosting a fantastic family event . Haven;t bough a magazine for ages .

I so agree, especially about the Christmas editions, which can make one feel very depressed, and the 'getting older - how wonderful' articles which frequently feature Helen Mirren or Joanna Lumley. But my pet hate is the fashion section. Are there really people out there who pay £500 for a winter coat? What madness is this? And then there are the interior design sections 'showcasing' posh houses in the Cotswolds. And I must mention the recipes, lavishly illustrated, which have me yawning before I'm half way through reading the extremely long list of ingredients. No, women's mags are not for me. I much prefer The Oldie which contains interesting and informative articles as well as lots of humour (and ads at the back for 'discrete massages with attractive continental lady'. What's that all about? )

Don't forget Twiggy - she's always there banging on about loving being old ! Oh , yes , the fabulous Cotswold houses . The owner is usually hosting Christmas there with a lot of people staying over to frolic in the snow and drink mulled wine ! Suppose it gives me a laugh. Haven't heard of The oldie !!

Don’t buy beauty magazines, they only make you feel ugly (said a wise man).

Loved magazine all my life but now, at 59, nothing seems to fit! I used to love GH but I’m not interested in sex toys, or cosmetic surgery or clothes at 1000’s of pounds a pop. However I’m not ready for some targeted at the ‘older’ market either. I have started to download free magazines on Prime so, if I’m not interested , I send them back, but still miss the thrill of a printed copy!

Only glance at them when in a waiting room - too many adverts (I know they are necessary) clothes which are too expensive and I would never wear, so called 'celebs' boasting about latest marriage, boyfriend, baby, holidays, new 'fantastic homes', plastic surgery (Katie Price an example who is supposedly bankrupt!!). Prefer to save my money.

I recently discovered that I can now read over 197 different magazines via my LIBBY app. Completely free of charge including back issues and some newspapers too. I get notifications of new issues of the ones I’ve been reading like New Scientist and National Geographic. Seems amazing to me that access is free, all you need to download Libby is a library card. If you can’t download Libby I believe the same access is available via Overdrive?

Loved reading all your messages everyone! I’m definitely going to look up The Oldie as I’ve never heard of it. I don’t actually buy these but was given a pile so felt almost obliged to flick through them. I’m so pleased I’m not the only one feeling as I do. Yesterday’s stand out thing I noticed was a fashion shoot showing a ‘perfect’ woman wearing an outfit suited to tea at the Ritz costing around £700 in total, and she was pushing a wheelbarrow full of leaves!!! Don’t think anyone would photograph the clothes I would wear to do that ….

I tend to read magazines like Country Living and Period Homes and look at the lovely houses and gardens and get ideas that I can convert on my budget for my own home and garden. I also love to read about crafts, artisan workers and the food recipes and food producers in these sorts of magazines. I'm not really interested in the others.

I stopped reading/buying them years ago. Very demoralising! They are so expensive, too, considering most pages have an advert telling you to buy something, be something, do something! Sometimes I buy gardening magazines. Better to buy a nice book once a month! Easy recipes with 5 ingredients from Jamie Oliver (and others probably). Gardening books etc. They don't have loads of adverts making you feel inadequate and they last for years!

hamster58

Loved reading all your messages everyone! I’m definitely going to look up The Oldie as I’ve never heard of it. I don’t actually buy these but was given a pile so felt almost obliged to flick through them. I’m so pleased I’m not the only one feeling as I do. Yesterday’s stand out thing I noticed was a fashion shoot showing a ‘perfect’ woman wearing an outfit suited to tea at the Ritz costing around £700 in total, and she was pushing a wheelbarrow full of leaves!!! Don’t think anyone would photograph the clothes I would wear to do that ….

That "pushing a wheelbarrow" made me laugh out loud hamster58

Only buy a gardening magazine nowadays after looking for best subscription rates. Get given others occasionally though. Expensive and full of adverts. Articles don’t seem to have any depth in them, Then there are the articles on healthy eating, you then turn the page to find recipes for amazing cakes?

The only magazines I see on a regular basis nowadays are the supplements which come with the weekend newspapers. The fashion is laughable and many other articles are of little interest. Items about people are more interesting and aren't
always about 'super women', thank goodness.

I used to get interiors mags, but rarely now. I know what my taste is and feel I don't need to worry about the latest trends.

Depends which magazines you read and why you read them!
I personally steer away from the "celebrity" ones and often the ones that reckon certain women can do it all are basically because the women have often had outside help , be it from nannies/nurseries for their children and a good PA for their business side!
I often wonder if, somewhere down the line, they will sit back and wonder at what they have missed in their private life such as time spent with husband or partner, their friends, their children etc?
When all is said and done, you can only do what you can do and everyone needs to make time and appreciate what they have and cherish those around them .

I stopped buying them years ago hampster58 for that very reason.

TRY THE PEOPLES FRIEND loads of stories couple serials

good articles and cooking pages good buy all round . i pay every 12 weeks and get delivered and save money. well worth it .

The only magazines I ever read, because they are part of my membership, is the National Trust and the Institute of Advanced Motorists. Usually just skim them and bin them. I don't buy magazines otherwise.

I dropped my subscription to Woman & Home for various of the reasons you mentioned but particularly the sponsored fashion pages that use ultra thin models. I'm pretty skinny, naturally, myself but I don't like seeing these girls who live on cotton wool in order to make a living.

The only magazine s I have regularly are Logic Problems and 'Crime monthly'. However, I am going to look for the oldie and look at People's Fiend as well.

I think it's a good idea to buy special interest magazines but I am yet to find one that caters for my special interests....... sitting around doing as little as possible, only wearing clothes that are comfortable and cheap and, of course going on Gransnet for hours on end!!!!!
Any ideas, please?

I do buy women’s monthly magazines, prefer them to the weekly gossipy magazines. Always articles on food, books, gardening, fashion and beauty and short stories that I enjoy. I agree that the celebrity features are annoying though, I tend to ignore them! Also like the odd home and travel magazine.

Don’t read these ‘glossies’ Thousands of excellent books out there . Why would you read this stuff?! The only one I do read and it’s on subscription is ‘Free Inquiry’ ....it drops through letterbox every couple of months.

Always enjoy reading/looking through Hello and OK mags at the hairdresser but wouldn't bother to buy either, full of people I've mostly never heard of and nothing worth reading. Do get the monthly RHS mag and that's useful.