A Dying Art: Paper

Dear Reader,

It's possible that you've noticed the decrease in the use of paper within VIS, and this could be the result of those well-known budget reductions, or perhaps it's because paper culture is dying out. You might be unsure what I mean by that. Having for a long time written articles on paper and then carefully transferring them to digital form, I couldn't fail to realise that an increasing number of people, including the journalists at SparkNews, are no longer using paper except during school hours. I believe this could be a serious issue since many school curriculums have begun to eliminate various methods of recording thoughts, such as cursive, and not just that—practices like keeping a journal, writing letters on paper, and using signatures are also disappearing. All of this constitutes paper culture, and it is up to all of us to preserve it.

Part 1 – Paper Culture

Paper culture – the manner in which people think and put their ideas down on paper is a significant aspect which may soon vanish as our way of thinking becomes more digital and technological, for example with the use of AI – is not merely about how we think; it also refers to the way in which we record our ideas and the structure and format we use when doing so but with the quick development of AI, this is disappearing.

This might be the reason why so many people stopped writing on paper and started doing so much laptop work. I dont mean to say that laptop work is bad but I think that we are losing Paper or the Tools we have used for centuries for everything is now getting replaced. The legacy that paper carried is not the only thing I am afraid to lose it is also that fact that more and more young people hate paper due to the association to school. This means that a young person might use paper but not really greatly and therfore disslike it.

Love for paper is also a big thing that is dissapearing. Ever since I was a kid I always loved notebooks. They were so easy to use that even 5 year old me started using them to do little sketches and learn about electricity (Fun fact: The only question I found while researching for this topic in my old notebooks was "How does electricity work?" (Translated from russian)).

Part 2 – Cursive

Another dying art is cursive. As paper started getting less and less usefull to the avarage modern person some schooling systems like in the United States started removing cursive from their curiculum as they though it was useless and isnt needed. But unlike paper cursive might dissapear once and for all.

I use cursive on my everyday basis as it is more usefull than your normal block letters (or what you see right now) as you can write faster that some type and it is your own. By that I mean that if you write in one certain way another person wont be able to copy that easily and if you develop some of your uniqueness you might just invent your own secret writing which you will never achive otherwise. If we go back to paper if you pair both Paper Culture and the proper way to write (paragraph rules, formal words and sentences, etc.) with cursive then you can instead of writing emails to your co-workers or class mates in non-urgent situations you can then just write them a letter instead or you can turn any old notebook into your information hub with your notes calendar and other tools you can make analog in there.

Conclusion

In Conclusion I think that analog alway beats digital with the ease of use and felxibility. In addition to that i think that going anaolog will not only save this hidden art but will earn you some respect and with that trust of more important people.with that in mind I think that you dear reader maybe think about creating such a system of your own and get inspired by great creators which already do so. (list of YouTubers in P.S.)

P.S.:

1. Objectivity
2. Bullet Journal
3. John Pattison
4. More Comming...

Sincerely,

Victor Stanovoy

Founder and CEO

of SparkNews

Thank you for your support of SparkNews. This article is an Opinion Article!