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Paper & Culture in the Digital Age
There are books and documents that are many hundreds of years old that will still be around long after the hard drive on your phone or computer have gone to digital dust in the aether. As a medium, paper remains a key aspect of cultures around the world.
As PCs came to consumer markets at scale in the 1980’s and then flourished in the business world, there was much discussion that the end of paper was upon us. Everything would be digital, even books would soon disappear. Then along came personal printers for homes and networked printers in the office. Paper was back with a vengeance.
Paper production in fact, has increased with China being the largest producer in the world today, followed by the United States. It is estimated today that we create about 400 million metric tons a year. Paper was invented in China somewhere around 25–220 AD, while the printing press that enabled mass production of books, brochures and such was invented in Germany by Gutenberg in the 15th century.
Paper it would seem, remains as important to culture in the digital age as it did thousands of years ago. Why? And why might paper remain culturally important and relevant into the future?
