Despite the fact that digital devices have made electronic documents commonplace, paper still has an important place in our lives. The analog feel and memory that only paper can provide gives people a special experience, and it continues to be valuable even in the digital age.
Walking into a cafe on a nice fall day, the scene is quite different from what it used to be. Instead of books, most of the students studying in the cafe are looking at their laptops. They download class materials in file format and take notes on their laptops. Even in university classrooms and study halls, you’ll see more students studying on laptops or computers than on paper.
We live in a world of electronic documents. Lectures are presented in PPT, and assignments are submitted via email or ETL. Even when we read books or watch cartoons for leisure, we use ebooks on the Internet. It seems that paper is gradually being pushed out of our daily lives. So is paper going away forever?
Interestingly, the use of paper is on the rise. When documentation programs like Hangeul and Word first appeared, many people predicted that paper would disappear. However, documentation programs actually spurred paper consumption, and equipment like printers that connect computers and paper sold like hotcakes. As a result, annual paper consumption has steadily increased, even as electronic documents have become more integrated into our lives. Today, we are surrounded by electronics, but we still use paper. Large bookstores are still a favorite destination for many people. We print out class materials to take notes, do exercises in our notebooks, and print out assignments to turn in. Predictions that paper would become redundant have been spectacularly wrong. What keeps paper alive in the digital age?
The reason why paper has survived the flood of electronic documents is the same reason why analog life is experiencing a resurgence in the digital age. While digital has become a symbol of technological advancement and competitiveness due to its economic value and quick and easy accessibility, analog has been viewed as the opposite, a lost past. We live in an era where an entire elementary to high school curriculum is available on a single CD, and cutting-edge technology has taken over our lives.
But the question is whether the digital age has really made our lives happier or better. We seem to be doing more things more efficiently than ever before, but in reality, we’re just letting smart machines do the work that used to be done by humans. We chat in cyberspace, but face-to-face conversations have declined dramatically. This lack of emotion and communication has led to a resurgence in the use of analogs that stimulate emotions.
Let’s take a look at modern reading patterns. Smartphones dominate the commute to and from work or school using public transportation. People put down their books and pick up their smartphones. It’s rare to see someone holding a book on the subway or bus, except during exams. A huge amount of information is stored on a small device, and you can also watch videos or play games. Thanks to the convenience and versatility of digital devices, paper books have fallen asleep in our bags.
But when you’re reading on your smartphone, it’s hard to focus on one thing. Checking social media notifications, answering calls, and checking your smartphone’s calendar can interrupt your reading flow. It’s hard to get into the flow of the book, which leads to fragmented and superficial reading.
On the other hand, when you read a book with your smartphone in your pocket, the only thing you can do is read. The emotional experience of reading without the distraction of texting or social media will be very different from reading on a smartphone.
There’s something analog about paper. When it comes to communicating with someone, we don’t often use digital media. Confessing to a crush in a social media message or email might feel awkward, but at least it won’t offend the other person. We may delete old emails, but we often keep old letters. This is because of the sentimentality of the analog.
Letters and messages seem similar in the sense that they convey the written word. However, just as the slower analog medium evokes emotions, so do letters that have been out of print for a long time.
Recently, there have been a number of devices that allow you to write on an LCD screen with a pen attached to your phone. This can be seen as an attempt to add analog sensitivity to digital devices. However, due to the limitations of digital devices, it is difficult to fully realize the sensation of writing directly on paper or flipping through a book.
Hands play a huge role in human memory and sensation. Aside from the face, the hands have the highest concentration of sensory organs. We use the sensations we feel through our hands to remember and store information. Whether you’re taking notes with a pen on a printed course handout, using your fingers on a smartphone, or typing on a keyboard, the most familiar and intense sensation is probably the one that comes from using paper. Paper serves to reinforce memory through sensations that current digital technologies do not provide.
Many “non-sensory” documents have already gone electronic. But despite its shrinking place, the production and consumption of paper is on the rise. This shows that people are drawn to paper because of the emotional connection that only paper can provide that electronic documents cannot.
Modern people crave emotion in their mechanized and personalized lives, and paper fills the void. Even in the age of electronic documents, paper documents have survived by providing emotions and sensations that digital media cannot. Paper, which remains a symbol of analog, will continue to be a refuge for people who are tired of the digital world, and people will experience the emotion of paper documents.
