People have been using paper for recording information for a long time. While paper works as well as ever and people consume massive amounts of it, new digital technologies are now offering an alternative. This is a look at some of the reasons for moving away from paper as a means of storing information.
Paper was invented in China roughly 2,000 years ago. Since then, it has spread to every corner of the world and every part of our lives. Cheap, lightweight and versatile, paper still stores most of human knowledge on its pages.
Drawbacks of paper
With new technologies though, it may be time to rethink the use of paper for storing information. Here are some drawbacks to paper.
The environmental costs of paper are significant. While paper can be recycled and reused, it still has to be produced and transported. Furthermore, as some point, old paper needs to be disposed of.
Once something is printed, it is very difficult to change or update. With digital technologies, things can be easily updated instantly without the need to reprint and transport.
Paper also takes a lot of space. With increasing amounts of information, it is becoming increasing more difficult to store all the information people have on paper. At the same time, digital technologies allow us to store huge amounts of information in ever smaller spaces.
There is little flexibility when organizing and retrieving information on paper documents. However, digital technology allows us to organize and search for data quickly and in multiple ways.
Paper also ties the users to a location. Electronically stored information can be easily carried and accessed anywhere. It can also be quickly and easily passed to others who might need it.
While people often have the impression that digital information can be lost easily and sometimes it is, when proper steps such as making backups are taken, it can actually be more secure than paper. Paper is fragile and can easily, burn or be destroyed in numerous other ways. It is comparatively more difficult to physically destroy a hard drive and the data on it.
Digital drawbacks
Of course, storing information electronically has its problems too. Some of the drawbacks include the fact that digital information can sometimes spread too easily, be hacked into from afar and requires electronic devices to access. However, these negative points probably do not outweigh the positives in most situations.
Going paper free
Most of what people need to go paperless is already here. Cheap computers and scanners allow people store large amounts of data easily and convert what they currently have a paper into digital form. New technologies such readers that use electronic paper (which gives the same kind of resolution as paper and does not cause the eye strain computers screens sometimes do) are set to offer viable alternatives in the few areas paper is still the most practical.
The main reason most do not go paperless to the extent they could is more physiological. People have been conditioned for generations to use paper. To stop doing so requires a change of mindset. People first need to be more conscience of the advantages of going paperless. Then, by organizing their own personal methods of backing up and storing documents and other information electronically (be it just using simple folders or special software), most people and companies can start reaping the benefits going digital at any time.
For the first time in thousands of years, an improved way of storing and accessing data has appeared. It is time to start making better use of it.
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