Would Michael Scott approve?

In our ever-advancing world of technology, we have advanced from the VHS to the DVD player to the Blue Ray Disc. We made it from vinyl records to the compact disc, and eventually to Ipods. With our environment and its preservation becoming a particularly disarming issue in recent years, President Barack Obama has put an emphasis on reducing carbon emissions and rewarding those who implement eco-friendly policies.
With the increase in technology, it is safe to ask whether our society would be better off paperless.

Pros: Environmentally friendly, incentives from other companies, save $.
Cons: Losing information, customers neglecting to view information or statements, too much technology.

I think that going paperless in the workplace is certainly a positive goal to strive for. It can save money, time, and energy, while also promoting the environment. Having a paperless system in the workplace will also bring about a universal organization from every employee. Instead of going through cabinets and files just to search for one piece of paper, the employee can simply click through their computer and find whatever it is that is needed.

In other places, I believe that a paperless environment is needed, however, not to the fullest extent. At home for instance, going completely paperless would not be a solid investment. As good as computers are, it is not wise to put your entire life into something that could break down and swallow that information whole. Keeping valued information on the computer would be a smart option, but knowing that a solid backup existed (in the form of paper) would be even smarter.

As technology advances, upcoming generations will be affected in the way they are being taught. We are already seeing a shift from written exercises to typed ones. At the college level, the shift is even more evident. Not enough actual writing, however, would be a bad precedent to start. Every child needs to know how to write, and how to write effectively. Children at the elementary level don't need to be exposed to the rapid advancement of technology. There is a fundamental way I believe that children should be taught in a certain manner. With the way society is shifting, there is no doubt that they will become experts at formatting Microsoft Excel by the time they're 12 anyways.

A global business that has seen a dramatic shift in recent years to a paperless environment is banking. Most people today receive their statements online, as well as through the mail. This is the best and most logical way for banks to keep operating. While online statements may be easy to access and convinient, they can also become neglected simply by people forgetting to check them on a regular basis. There is something reassuring about receiving that physical copy in the mail, knowing that your bank still remembers that you actually exist.