Paper versus Tablet…who wins?

Nowadays, everywhere you go you’re given a paperless option – starting from the signature line appearing at the foot of more and more emails “please consider the environment before printing this email” to the slogan at the atm machine “In support of a cleaner environment, receipts print only when specifically requested”. Has anybody else noticed?

“Paper has a great future”

Speaking of going paperless, surely everybody recalls that funny French toilet paper ad about a man who was constantly nagging his wife Emma to embrace new technology (in form of a tablet) for playing and writing instead of using paper. I loved it, especially the last bit, when the husband is in need of toilet paper and Emma slips a tablet displaying a toilet paper roll under the door followed by the voice-over “Paper has a great future” (Brilliant!) – Of course it does, technology can’t replace everything.

Speaking of my personal experience, I still prefer to stick a “post it” on the fridge instead of setting a reminder on my phone and, call me old-fashioned, I can’t see myself converting to an ebook or ibook, I could never cheat on my paper book…the smell of paper, the romantic turning of the pages, a wooden shelf to display all the books I’ve read.

“Going Paperless”

BUT I have to admit: other than that I do choose technology over paper; I don’t print receipts at the ATM or emails, I use my iPad to take notes and I can’t help but wonder: is this really saving the environment or could the increased use of technology be causing more damage? Well… there is a time and place to discuss this and it would exceed the maximum amount of characters I’m supposed to use for this blog post.

So let’s go back to the initial idea of writing a post about paperless environment. The idea occurred to me talking to our customers. We listen to their everyday experiences with our product to research the full potential of the Maglus and also because we’re a bit curious. We’ve been talking to students, teachers, artists, professionals, designers…and found out that most of them replaced pen and paper with tablet and stylus.

They found it’s a great solution to both organise everyday tasks and save time and money (and of course be eco-friendly), turning a messy office into a paperless workplace, a heavy bag full of printed notes and slides into a light weight bargain or a moment of creativity into an amazing drawing (you don’t always carry brushes with you anywhere, anytime, do you?).

Let’s say it: computers, tablets, smartphones won’t make us paperless but they do offer solutions to our problems.

How do you interact with technology? Did you go digital, or are you having a more diffucult time getting used to it?

Tell me about your personal experience, email me at francesca AT maglusstylus DOT com