That's the answer, or the gist of it, many people gave The Frederick News-Post in a recent customer survey.

No matter our age, we all have more to do, more places to be and less time to do it all these days. I think that's a pretty safe statement across the board. (Not to mention the tough economy taking its toll on almost everyone's wallet.)

The days of waking up, eating a sit-down breakfast and flipping through several sections of the newspaper before going to work are long gone. Not with people in the D.C. metro area taking an average of about 30 minutes to get to work, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. Or working longer hours. Or working two jobs.

Free time is an absolute luxury. We all know that.

But we also know that even though the troubles of newspapers are well- documented, it's not because people don't care about news. In fact, our appetite for news is probably greater now than ever. The public even has a greater say in what news is. Readers tend to take a more personal stake in it or, like many of the folks who comment on fredericknewspost.com, have an outlet to voice their thoughts about a story.

We're probably also a society more well-versed in current events, not only in Frederick , but also around the world, than folks from previous generations.

How? Easy: We read and watch more news, and have more accessibility to the news we want, when we want it.

Most of us get our news from so many places that one print product just doesn't do the trick like it once did. So we visit many places to fulfill our news fix. And those places are typically online or on TV, or we follow the latest events with texts to our phones or tweets on our BlackBerry.

It's easier to go from site to site or change channels than to get five or six newspapers. And people today are multitaskers; why else would texting while driving be an issue? We need to maximize our use of time.

Communities have also changed.

While our physical community may be defined by ZIP code, a community of folks with similar interests isn't reliant upon locale. An online community has people from all over the country or the world. You can even be anonymous, which seems to be a big plus for people.

But for you, our readers, The FNP offers the Frederick County news you need to know. You cannot get that elsewhere. I'm not making a sales pitch, nor should this be seen as self-serving. I'm telling you because it's true.

While circulation is down at most newspapers in the industry, readership levels are higher than ever, thanks to online-only readers.

So, are newspapers still relevant? No doubt.

But to emerge from our industry's crisis, we have to be creative in our business. There is no model to follow, but it is a time of great opportunity.

We must continue to adjust. And that adjustment, I think, is a continuation -- a broadening, if you will -- of a finely tuned marriage between the print and digital products.

Print readers are not getting younger. According to the State of the News Media Report 2009 put out by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, people between the ages of 18 and 34 have the lowest daily newspaper readership, with 49 percent getting their news online.

While that's one end of the spectrum, it was heartening to hear from so many readers a couple of Fridays ago when mechanical problems with the press delayed printing and delivery of some newspapers.

There were so many calls that several of us in the newsroom helped out in answering the phones, and I was taken aback by what people said.

Readers, after finding out why their paper wasn't delivered, offered kind words and encouragement. People were glad to hear it was a glitch, and that we didn't close all of a sudden.

It's apparent we offer something important. But we must keep responding to our readers.

If you have an idea to enhance our website, e-mail me at jbrennan@fredericknewspost.com.

Jason Brennan is the web editor at The Frederick News-Post.