The End of Pen and Paper

How often do you still use pen and paper?  I was down to one last application: my grocery list.  I have left a (5" x 8") note pad in grocery carts all over the western states.  Finally, I couldn't take it anymore!  So the notepad was replaced by a reminder app on the smartphone.

You mean that damn phone is taking over one more part of life!  It has become easier to push the microphone button on the phone to add an item to the grocery list than to look for a pen and notepad.  

Why was I getting so emotional about this?  For instance, how long has it been since I sent a handwritten note on a piece of paper to somebody else?  It was probably back in the 1980s when we starting using a personal computer and a printer to replace the handwritten note.  This seemed like a kind and respectful thing, since most people's handwriting is pretty bad.

Then we got rid of the printer, because email came along.  These changes seemed like progress at the time.  I had no nostalgic loyalties to handwritten notes. 

But I was clinging to that last application of pen and paper, the grocery list.  Silly, I know.  I have no nostalgic loyalties to clay tablets either.  Or papyrus.  Parchment (animal skin) was around for centuries.  It was used to write the U.S. Constitution.  But how many of us have ever used parchment?

And besides, you can't find a damn pen when you need one.

from meer.com