I think that looking through a few journals doesn't hurt when considering different specialties. I'm just now entering MS3, but during my first two years I tried to look at the clinical experiences I've had (before and during medical school), the subjects I found interesting in class, and tried comming up with a list of specialties I might be interested in. I browsed through some journals in the medical library. I joined a few professional organizations. Medical student fees are either free or deeply discounted. With membership you usually get a journal or some variety. I didn't exactly have a lot of time to sit back and read journals for fun, but I found it useful to flip through the journals and see the difference between the type of research done in EM vs Anesthesiology vs Psych, etc.
I certainly wouldn't use journals as a the main reason to choose a specialty over another one. And after all this is it possible that I'll start MS3 and fall in love with Ob/Gyn having never ever considered it? Yes, but that doesn't mean that looking at a few journals was a waste. Having more information and perspective is never a bad thing.
