Opinion: The Looming Decline of Paper Media

Here we are in the digital age, and it certainly looks and feels like it thanks to the barrage of digital toys and tools that are released nearly every day. I can barely remember the time when you had to go grab the paper to find out about the world in a filtered atmosphere.

Today, this is no longer the case. Instead, we pull out our smartphones; and within a minute, surround ourselves in an abundant, though not always accurate, sea of information. I’m not ignoring the more conventional computing, but smartphones are rapidly replacing those devices for the majority of what we do online. While you may not be able to burn a CD with one, could technology that is freely accessible from your device makes this largely irrelevant.

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Smartphones are nothing new. However, with their increase in speed and functionality, they are able to perform most online tasks with relative ease. And as companies like Sprint, Verizon, and now AT&T start ramping up LTE roll out, the things that can be done with these devices grow and become even more usable. Things like Siri, Google Maps, and so many other apps use the internet to pull information; as the networks get faster, so do these programs that we have come to rely on. And a big one for me is Netflix—not the only player in the “streaming content” game, but one of the most popular at the moment, and my personal favorite. I don’t know if I could watch a choppy, low res movie now that I have seen what phones like the Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic Touch 4G ( that sure is a long name for a phone) can do—I’d be suffering on my free time.

Another huge success is digital books, which are never more than a few taps away. There are devices like Kindle from Amazon; but with the screen sizes on smart phones getting bigger, it’s actually not bad reading a digital book on lets say a 4.52” SAMOLED+ screen. Since Google offers free books frequently in Google Books, the need for paper products further declines. Perhaps you may have noticed that you rarely get a full blown manual with the products you buy (smartphones being a notable exception). Most companies direct you to an online manual, which both cuts costs and saves trees.

I work in the paper industry, and I see partners and competitors closing their doors left and right—not simply because the economy isn’t doing so well, but because the paper business as a whole is on a decline. Its almost bittersweet. I love my job, and would love to know it was secure, but I also love the fact that less paper is being used and better tech is coming out to help to a bigger dent in the number of people that use paper media to get their news or entertainment. As time goes on, I would say you could expect to see less and less people with a news paper or a map in their hands, which if your a motorist on the road, that’s a good thing right. I know these things are currently being replaced by phones, but one day, hands-free voice systems such as Siri will help change that.

My dad used to always say “I would love to be around 50 years from now to see what comes out” (another tech junkie), but I think he would be amazed at what the next 5 years will bring. I know I am.