We live in a digital age; information
exists virtually and is stored deep within hard drives. It need never come out
of the computer if it wasn’t for our love of printing.
Despite promises of paperless offices,
we still seem to be addicted to printing. Recent studies have shown that the
average office worker prints 10,000 sheets of paper ever year. This is a
startlingly high figure and is equivalent to each person writing several novels
every year! But when you think about it, it’s not hard to see how it all adds
up. With things like Apple's Cloud, Dropbox and smartphones getting smarter, why are we printing reams more than we ever have done before? Read on to find out as here are some of the reasons why we love to print:
A physical sheet of paper vs. a virtual word document
You can’t beat having something real.
Virtual word documents are useful and to be honest, I can’t imagine a world
without spell check, the ‘undo’ button, ‘copy and paste’ and of course
‘delete’. But when it comes to really looking at something or discussing it
with someone else, you want it in paper.
Paper can be shared
It is easier to discuss something,
which you can physically hold, point at and pass to the other person in real
time. While you can easily share documents online, it takes away communication
about areas that could directly relate to a piece of work that need to be
discussed.
Paper is good for thinking
If you want to think about or review
something, it is nice to be able to open an actual folder as opposed to a
virtual folder. This is something that you can keep rather than something that
can’t be dragged into oblivion with the click of a mouse.
Printed means finished
Paper is also good as a physical
outcome to endless tapping away at keyboards. A printed piece of paper comes
with a sense of achievement – it feels more complete this way.
Paper is good for the eyes
Printing gives the eyes a break from
the screen and in that sense it’s good for proof reading. It’s not healthy to
look at glowing screens all day and studies show that your eyes deteriorate
over time with prolonged exposure to computer screens.
Paper crumples…
Paper is associated with learning and
working, but what is so satisfying is that if all goes wrong, it can be
crumpled up and thrown dramatically into the bin. Clicking a mouse really isn’t
the same.
An electronic world
Similar to the rise of ebooks, which
seems to have subsequently brought the demise of bookshops, digital living
threatens the use of paper. It is universally accepted that bookshops are
wonderful places and a good, solid book is unbeatable and yet we still dabble
with electronic reading. Even fans of electronic reading will admit that they
would be sorry to see the day when bookshops are no more.
A virtual future is promised, but can
you imagine an office without paper and without need for a cartridge shop?
It would be very tidy, like a minimalist Ikea catalogue but it would be
soulless and without any evidence that human beings worked there.
There is no need in this day and age to
keep each piece of paper you ever printed and work between mountains of paper.
Computers can store information but paper is essential to discussing, sharing
and reflecting on ideas. Printing paper is no longer a necessity and yet we
still prefer it.
Would you want to live your life
entirely through screens and electricity? Can you imagine a world without
newspapers, leaflets, books, handouts and letters?
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment