A stack of copy paper. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In today’s ever-changing digital society, many think old-fashioned paper will soon be a thing of the past. However, according to an article by Douglas Hanks of the Miami Harold titled “Paper appears to be winning battle to digitize paperwork,” “Walk through the modern new document depository in Medley, Fla., and one thing becomes clear: Paper can be a hard habit to break.”
According to the article, the company can scan millions of pieces of paperwork; however, a lot of their business includes storing paperwork.
Here is a short excerpt from the article that explains the vast amount of paper stored:
“The warehouse now contains roughly 10 million files and 500 million pieces of paper. They fill 90 rows of shelves 30 feet tall, running the length of two football fields. The warehouse purchased 193,000 labels to set up the shelving system.”
I believe this is a prime example of the importance of paper.. It just goes to show that our society still values paper. Paper is something tangible that we can hold and there is no fear of a virus or the screen going black. Whatever is on the paper will always be there (unless something is spilled on it or it is in a fire).
People have a sort of emotional attachment to paper. There is always the question “what if” that runs through people’s minds when they consider destroying important paper documents. What if I need to reference that paper document in the future? What if my computer crashes and I lose everything? For that reason, I believe most companies will keep paper copies as backups, just in case. I think the process of converting paper documents into digital documents will prove extremely helpful in the future. However, I believe paper-based communication will continue to be a vital part of our society.
What are your thoughts? Do you think companies will eventually go all-digital or do you think many will keep paper copies just in case something happens?
