PAPER vs PAPERLESS

The computer age promised a paperless society...WRONG.  I create more paper now, with my computer, than I ever imagined possible. 

Yes, all my information is in the computer...somewhere, but I have to remember where to find it and the password I need to find it.  OR...I can have notebooks in a bookcase, and in two seconds I reach for "phone numbers" and voila, my friends and family jump off the page.  All my book research can be in a binder, divided by category, with colorful post-it bunny-ears marking the highlights. Essential passages are underlined in red, with my own notes in the margin.  OR....I can go to favorites/bookmarks on the computer. Once I have the computer open, I scan through a myriad of web pages I saved, open one at a time, and w-a-i-t patiently until the page decides to open.

I write my stories on the computer (absolutely necessary), but I MUST print them on paper (multiple times) to read and edit.  I don't trust emailing passages to friends for input, so I print and mail them, and ask for written comments in return.

I receive personal and business emails I need to keep, so I print and file them. The banks send their statements by email now.  How do you balance a twenty page business statement in email to a multi page bank account on your business software?  You print the statement...more paper.

How many trees do I use each year?  How many do you use?  Computers don't save paper, they create the need for more PAPER   PAPER   PAPER   PAPER.


So what started this tirade?  My printer broke.  I was going through paper withdrawal.  I displayed cold sweats, hyper ventilation, panic, and snapped at my husband until he rushed me to the office supply store to get another one.  Once I had it home, I proceeded to install it on our three computers and sighed in relief after the first test print spewed from the throat of the new printer. 

All is normal in the Danielson household.  Sweet dreams to my friends.