I would be curious to search up how did puzzles make it into newspapers and magazines back in the day. I have a hunch we are just repeating the same cycle again, only the platform changed :)
And just like that, I decided to ask perplexity about this, since AI is the talk of the town
> For example, during wartime or economic uncertainty, puzzles like crosswords were promoted as a way to "escape the woes of the news pages," with editors explicitly noting that readers needed diversions during stressful times. This strategy proved effective: as readers grew to expect puzzles, newspapers benefited from increased sales and more consistent readership, which in turn attracted more advertisers.
We are escaping the woes of AI and radicalization, I guess..
>We are escaping the woes of AI and radicalization, I guess..
You sure? I started a project not 24h ago and was quick to notice advertising of suggestions on multiple LLM chat prompts with things like: "Surprise me" and "Play a quiz"..
> For example, during wartime or economic uncertainty, puzzles like crosswords were promoted as a way to "escape the woes of the news pages," with editors explicitly noting that readers needed diversions during stressful times. This strategy proved effective: as readers grew to expect puzzles, newspapers benefited from increased sales and more consistent readership, which in turn attracted more advertisers.
We are escaping the woes of AI and radicalization, I guess..