"Paper is obsolete"
Bam. Just like that, he killed paper.
I consider myself a nerd so I sort of believed him because of a new invention thats on its way out. Its called E Ink or E Paper, and its out to kill paper, some of the uses that they have lined up for it are in newspapers, books, pamphlets, and other cheap yet mass produced paper products used for reading.
Sony is working on releasing this little guy, called 'Sony E reader' Its nice looking I think I could read a whole book with it. (A black and white picture book that is)
Looks pretty nice eh? Technology is really great. Now back to that statement from before, Paper is dead. (more or less)
How often have any of you done research in actual books this year, not including your assigned text book. Me, I haven't cracked a book to do substantial research in college yet. I read all the PDFs my teachers have scanned into the library. Usually I will just search the online library database for what I need to look up. Then again we cant forget our trusty friend:
I get a lot of information here now too:
One argument I heard was, "But to open up a new book...the smell." This is a good point, People, nay, I, love opening up a new book and smelling it. People just feel comfortable with them.
The rebuttal, "Its because You grew up with books and that is all you know."
This is so true. I as well as most of you grew up with access to quick information, the internet, or TV. How about when your phone no longer needed a cord, we were free to roam the house and talk with our next door neighbors! We could also sit on the couch and order a pizza without moving! Fantastic. Now imagine being able to buy that book you've been wanting online and download it right to your reader, instantly. Just like the pizza, you didn't hardly have to even shop for the new book, you just have it.
Your next argument might be, but I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTEE (maybe even loathe) reading things for a long time on a computer screen, lord knows I do. So lets put your typical LCD display next to the E reader. (sorry about the size comparison here)
I know its a small display, but its pretty much the same thing. The super high contrast of E ink makes reading painless, even possible in daylight! The battery lasts for a whopping 7,500 page turns, so unless you're reading war and peace, you're set.
What about pictures in my books?
This is still new, so wait a few months for this to hit the shelves. Either way, its coming.
Now you might be just coming up with an excuse about how paper is going to stay alive, now on my walk home, I did the same thing. realistically paper won't die, but it could become an endangered specie.
Billboard and advertisements:
Replaced digitally, not popularly yet but the traditional ones we know are on their way out.
Japan knows whats up, or are they cheating, how about closer to home.
Times Square New York, and yes I do see the big traditional billboard, but look at all the others!
Business cards are transferred on Blackberrys and Treos. Signs in front of hotels are turning to LED displays. There are many more too! If its not back-lit any more its almost not worth looking at or too boring. Its true. You know it just like me.
There is only one industry not about to loose any of its paper production to binary code though:
In our generation paper is going to be stuck with us like the bad habit we all know that. Our kids on the other had, who knows what they are going to grow up with! I know in elementary school we used to say we would use our watches to talk to our parents on the phone, maybe we haven't gotten that far, but I was on top of a mountain last week and called my sister in Minnesota. Technology is changing, and its changing our lives. So maybe paper is not dead, but it is definitely on its way to be used less. Anyone heard of universities going completely digital with their textbooks yet, because I have.
What do you think? Is paper on its way out the door? What paper things are sticking around for the long haul? Let me know what you think.
3 comments:
I once had a PDA to replace my old trusty filofax. I kept it for about 4 weeks. It was a little nuisance of a thing because
i) You couldn't read the screen in any sort of sunlight.
ii) I was awfully cautious of dropping it on any sort of surface in case it'd break.
iii) Batteries! Forget to charge em and I couldn't get my appointments.
So I said screw that and bought a fancier filofax.
Hasn't it been noticed that we're printing lots more pages now since everything is digital we're sending more and more, but still want a record if our computer breaks or is switched off.
Also some courts may have difficulty in accepting purely digital documents as it could be open to forgery, so many courts (in Ireland anyway) won't accept digital camera photos as evidence, they must be presented in their film state. So I think the same may happen for documents.
There is one use for paper that I truly hope will never go away...toilet paper...that could be a tough transition to digital!
I felt like wiping my ass on the PDA, but you're right Rene, I doubt it'd be good.
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