Paper products are bearing offspring. They propagate like garbage on the side of the road, insidiously from one or two random pieces to gigantic piles that can’t be tallied.
Just look at your desk. Or, if not yours, consider mine: File folders on the right, with mounting materials; 7 mini-notepads to take to meetings and capture ideas, thoughts, to-do’s, contacts; a pile on the left of ongoing projects; and right in the middle, nudging my mouse pad, are those seemingly more important tasks written down on various scraps of paper that get buried deeper and deeper with each mounting day.
I fight a losing battle. Do you?
Many years ago, the predictors in society said we would be paperless in the 21st century. We continue to wait for that day. It may still occur. Don’t hold your breath.
During the first evolution of information technology, and the creation of electronic document storage and delivery, it seemed progress occurred against the paper mountain. Companies, organizations and bureaucracies made concerted efforts to move activities online. That continues today, but for some reason, paper proliferation seems as strong as ever. What’s going on?
Recently I cleaned off my desk. What did I throw away? 1) An old Chamber of Commerce directory (which means the new one was out, so the old one sat there for over a year; 2) notes to motivate me to do something (clearly they hadn’t); 3) a Rotary member list (getting close to 2-years-old); 4) several trade magazines that had best of intentions of grabbing my attention so I read them; 5) multiple sets of interview notes for stories in various publications; 6) more. There is always more. That’s the problem.
After cleaning off my desk, things were nice for days, maybe even weeks. Slowly, the paper breeds again. A few new notes get jotted down, and are put on the middle pile to follow up with clients, colleagues or friends. They are buried by now.
When you go to a conference or meeting sponsored by a business or organization, they like to give something out, so their brand is etched in your brain afterwards. One way they do that is by handing you a small disposable notepad with their logo. Seven of those sit on my desk right now. They are like a husband, wife, three kids and two grandkids. They will continue growing their family in the months and years ahead, I’m confident, because they don’t use birth control.
Maybe we need an educational campaign to get paper to use contraception. That could be funny.
An educational campaign to reduce the proliferation of paper use would have to fight the joy paper gets from breeding. More offspring means they get to spread their word.
That’s the major reason for the growth in paper output: Companies looking for more and more ways to get their message or image in front of you. Even if it’s only for a second, and totally disposable, they want to mail you a brochure or hand you a one-pager that briefly holds your glance. Will you remember them? Doubtfully, but you have to throw it away.
Or, you put it on your desk, where it sits and sits, developing consciousness and wondering why you don’t pick it up again and ponder its existence: “I am here as a sheet of paper. Therefore, I have significance. Read me.”
But we don’t. We read less. We glance more. Images take the place of words. Our mental capacities suffer because they are cluttered, like our desks.
I should wipe my desk down daily, or at least weekly, but am not to that point yet. I still think I’ll get around to some of those notes.
Just look at your desk. Or, if not yours, consider mine: File folders on the right, with mounting materials; 7 mini-notepads to take to meetings and capture ideas, thoughts, to-do’s, contacts; a pile on the left of ongoing projects; and right in the middle, nudging my mouse pad, are those seemingly more important tasks written down on various scraps of paper that get buried deeper and deeper with each mounting day.
I fight a losing battle. Do you?
Many years ago, the predictors in society said we would be paperless in the 21st century. We continue to wait for that day. It may still occur. Don’t hold your breath.
During the first evolution of information technology, and the creation of electronic document storage and delivery, it seemed progress occurred against the paper mountain. Companies, organizations and bureaucracies made concerted efforts to move activities online. That continues today, but for some reason, paper proliferation seems as strong as ever. What’s going on?
Recently I cleaned off my desk. What did I throw away? 1) An old Chamber of Commerce directory (which means the new one was out, so the old one sat there for over a year; 2) notes to motivate me to do something (clearly they hadn’t); 3) a Rotary member list (getting close to 2-years-old); 4) several trade magazines that had best of intentions of grabbing my attention so I read them; 5) multiple sets of interview notes for stories in various publications; 6) more. There is always more. That’s the problem.
After cleaning off my desk, things were nice for days, maybe even weeks. Slowly, the paper breeds again. A few new notes get jotted down, and are put on the middle pile to follow up with clients, colleagues or friends. They are buried by now.
When you go to a conference or meeting sponsored by a business or organization, they like to give something out, so their brand is etched in your brain afterwards. One way they do that is by handing you a small disposable notepad with their logo. Seven of those sit on my desk right now. They are like a husband, wife, three kids and two grandkids. They will continue growing their family in the months and years ahead, I’m confident, because they don’t use birth control.
Maybe we need an educational campaign to get paper to use contraception. That could be funny.
An educational campaign to reduce the proliferation of paper use would have to fight the joy paper gets from breeding. More offspring means they get to spread their word.
That’s the major reason for the growth in paper output: Companies looking for more and more ways to get their message or image in front of you. Even if it’s only for a second, and totally disposable, they want to mail you a brochure or hand you a one-pager that briefly holds your glance. Will you remember them? Doubtfully, but you have to throw it away.
Or, you put it on your desk, where it sits and sits, developing consciousness and wondering why you don’t pick it up again and ponder its existence: “I am here as a sheet of paper. Therefore, I have significance. Read me.”
But we don’t. We read less. We glance more. Images take the place of words. Our mental capacities suffer because they are cluttered, like our desks.
I should wipe my desk down daily, or at least weekly, but am not to that point yet. I still think I’ll get around to some of those notes.