Revisiting A Myth

Back in 2010 I wrote this post. It was an attack on the idea that the paperless office was ever to become a reality and I stand behind that post and the perspective which inspired it. A week or so ago, I came across this blog post which reiterates my opinion that I was right in my convictions. 

Based on the facts presented in said article I must reiterate, since the inception of paper people always have and always will have an intense emotional connection to paper. Granted it may be more subtle to the printed page in the office space but, take it away from your employees against their will and behold the sh!t-storm!

From the Article:

"As Publishers Weekly puts it, “the 2014 figures are further evidence that print books are selling better than they have since sales of eBooks exploded in 2010.” The paper tome apparently hit rock bottom in 2012, but has since rallied in categories from children’s books to adult non-fiction, and formats from trade paperback to hardcover.

Students, too, are rediscovering paper. Several studies – including one by tech-centric Hewlett-Packard – find a strong preference for printed textbooks, notably among those in college who have tried both types. In the HP survey, 57% preferred print; only 21% preferred an eTextbook."

Read the whole article here.

Not Your Average "Desktop Printer"

Photo taken by Jeremiah Owyang

Virgin Airlines now has a digital check-in kiosk at the SFO.

What is truly interesting about this new installment is that the white table beneath the touch screens is actually a printer...

In a world where the paperless office is still considered by some to be the future and ultimate fate of the office imaging industry, I find this but one of many telling oppositions to such an idea.

As time moves on and the digital world continues to grow through the plethora of new technologies (namely mobile devices, tablets and similar new age toys) I find it interesting that paper documents persist despite the growing realization that they are truly becoming unnecessary.

I have postulated for some time now that the paperless office is a myth for the simple fact that human beings truly have an intense and emotional attachment to the printed page, especially those of which come from the office culture.

While we are seeing eBook sales surpassing those of "old school" books and many newspapers are either becoming relics of the past or digitizing their content and reducing their printed pages, we find that in the office space emails, invoices, bills, and etc. continue to pile up.

Why is this? I can not help but to assume having a physical document in your hand has some subconscious value to us as human beings. Today words on a screen are available at lightning speeds and can be sent over vast distances but when the power goes out...

You have nothing unless you have the printed page.

In a world where the concept of "the end of days" or the looming possibility of an apocalypse driven by religious deities or the continual destruction of the earth by our own hands is a constant and prevalent idea in the minds of many, I often wonder...

Should a truly earth shattering event steal electricity and technology from you and your business for "x" amount of time, what good will "the cloud" be to you then?

Perhaps those folks who still have a back room full of filing cabinets documenting years of information and data relevant to their business are not so crazy after all.

Perhaps someday in the future the type writer will once again be at the head of the game and the only tablet or pad or you will be using is one made of paper...