They SO ARE! (I wanna say that before you think I'm being sarcastic, as in "Why ist horse-&-buggy still a popular form of transportation?") People say they AREN'T important because "everything's online now." But they also say that it would be totally easy for one country (or outer-space aliens) to take-over the world by simply knocking-out its electricity. Neverminding 'how we would survive," how would our history/science/philosophy/humor survive if it was nothing but code-sequences on the now unreadable server-drives? Hard copy, that's how. Ink/graphite to paper, like paint/chisel to stone. The way we got Scripture from the ancients (ancients we will one day be to our far-future progeny.) So, I've got 'survival of info through Alien Take-Over' & 'passing our wisdom to far-future humanity' ... any OTHER reasons we still need hard copy?
I still write snail mail letters and cards because there is something personal and intimate about reading someone's thoughts in their own handwriting. It also lets me be creative and make little drawings on the paper. It's also a kind of time travel because someone 3 days in the future is reading what I was thinking on the date that I mailed the letter. If there's ever a mass blackout like on one of those science fiction shows, and there's no more internet, then the only information that will survive is printed information. Thank God books are still being published every day.
I write letters by hand and send them in an envelope. I also buy newspapers and magazines, and after I have read them, I use the paper for all kinds of useful things, such as cleaning the windows, lining the kitty litter, etc. Most of the magazines I buy are about art and crafts. After reading them, I donate quite a few to local charities, while the rest I keep in my spare room for reference. To be honest, I actually prefer to stay away from the internet as much as possible.
I enjoy writing postcards to people even though it is slower, it is something they can keep. I also have a few old friends that do not use computers or email so I like to write them letters as they appreciate it though often I facebook their children to pass on a message too. Physical mail is important as it records everything as a hard copy. I personally like reading magazines in a physical format over online versions, a newspaper is different as I am looking for certain articles. I know there is junk mail, but sometimes there are some good coupons in there and keep locals informed of what is going on as many small towns don't use websites to advertise meetings or events. It is still via mail or posts on the supermarket boards.
I don't know if I would say they are IMPORTANT, but there are certain a small amount of us who still buy them and use them instead of ereaders. I buy magazines and newspapers because I won't want to PAY to read an online version of something and I normally forget to charge ereaders and there is nothing more irritating than reading something and the power going off!
For companies which want to verify if the information someone has entered on their site, they have to send a snail mail letter with some code in it. If you receive the letter and enter the code, they know you've been honest and can be trusted to a certain degree. There are other things which also can't be transmitted to you over email because someone could easily access your information. To prevent that, they'd send such sensitive information to you through snail mail. As for Newspapers and Magazines they are still in print because there are people [especially older people] who buy them. Eventually I believe they'll be phased out completely.
These are all still very important because no matter how convenient their electronic counterparts are, for me, they don't have the same level of sincerity. For instance, I always prefer hand-written letters than e-mails because I can feel the emotions of the letter sender more. It's also more romantic. I also prefer actual books than e-books because for some reason, I love the smell of books especially new ones.
Actually most companies still use written records. I think the reason why they just use digital is because it's easier to reproduce backups. If you can put something on a DVD or a hard drive you can just copy it over and over without actually having the data deteriorate and changed. Newspapers and Magazines are still out there most people still read them because not every likes to read things on their iPads and phones, I mean you can't really roll an iPad to swat a fly.
Well some people just prefer not to read something on a pc or cellphone monitor, so that's why they prefer paper-reading materials, like my dad for example, he still buys the newspapers even if he can access the internet daily and he has cable tv. As for me, I prefer the digital stuff, it's more convenient and it takes up less space.
