Towards a Paperless World

It had a ring of truth to it when the iconic singer and Nobel laureate Bob Dylan hit the airwaves with his 1963 timeless song ‘The times they are a-changin’’. Although the world has been through much since the release of the song, the inherent message embedded in Dylan’s soulful rendition rings true to this day.

There has sure been a massive change in the ways people communicate and interact with each other. Marshall McLuhan’s prediction for the world becoming a ‘global village’ through giant advances in communication systems has materialized for all intents and purposes. People are in a constant struggle to catch up with a fast digitizing world. There is chockfull of technology introduced every day. New tech and innovative gadgets appear in ceaseless torrents. We see ourselves delving deeper in the modern ecosystem of technological advancement. This vortex of information flow is pulling us in a paperless environment every day and there is no looking back. We can now say with confidents that it is not too inconceivable to imagine a world without paper.

This may actually be a blessing in disguise. Paper comes at a cost and on average, offices print thousands of paper every paper. The cumulative footprint of mass paper use has hit alarming proportions where the bulk of rage is channeled through cutting a substantial number of trees with irrevocable damage to the environment. Again, the transportation of reams of paper comes at an excessive cost on fuel consumption and efficiency.

A paperless world may not be too difficult to adopt to. Although transitioning towards a wholly digital world will take its natural course. Another decade or so, the physical newspapers may be a thing of the past. Modern digital consumers have gradually adopted to the changing times and majority get their daily doses of news and information through digital resources i.e. social media outlets, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp, and online news media. Non paper entities like digital e-readers, the onset of a growing podcast industry and rapid popularity of audiobooks have revolutionized the industry. Even the literary superstar, Stephen King, the author of over sixty books, has espoused the cause of audiobooks versus physical books.

We live in the world of super-efficient tablets, giant 6-inch mobile beasts that are capable of performing insane tasks that were only found in sci-fi movies not long ago. The change is in the year. It is a marker of our growth and creativity and must be embraced whole heartedly.