Paper or no paper - that is the question

Candle lights dancing on ancient walls, the sound of quills running on paper painting a fantasy world, and the smell of old books and their secrets,... I romanticise the aesthetic of academia like my life depends on it. Yet, as a student in the twenty-first century, I must say, from the bottom of my heart, it is time for digitalisation.

Dark Academia Aesthetics

The cloud is your friend

By cloud, I do not mean the literal cloud above you. I mean the digital cloud services, where you can synchronise data from all your devices. Once you synchronise your data, you can access it from anywhere given a decent Internet connection. You can read a book, listen to a podcast, or edit your essay from your laptop, iPad, phone, or whichever device that happens to be on your hand.

What does this mean? First, it means you no longer need to carry three to four massive books and an enormous notebook to class. Everything lies neatly in your devices, be it a laptop, iPad, or phone. You no longer need to worry about forgetting something - just grab your devices, charger, keys, wallet, and go.

And speaking as someone who carries tons of books for years, your back and shoulder will thank you later for relieving them of the pain.

Speed is good. Speed is life.

Handwritten note is time-consuming

Visually, an aesthetic handwritten notebook always trumps a simple Word document, OneNote or even Notion. But, those aesthetic-looking pages take hours to perfect. It is almost impossible to speed-note what your lecturer says and keep your notes tidy at the same time. And it is certainly impossible to make your notes aesthetic during the lecture. Usually, you will have to spend a couple of hours more rewriting your note after class.

A good way to revise the material, yes. Realistically, it only wastes your time. Having digital notes is time-saving. You type faster (especially with dictating programs that write for you), find your notes easier, and spend more time agonising on actual work, rather than colouring your books. Yes, Word documents look worse than your neat handwriting, but nobody is going to look at your notes. Even the professors ask you to email your essays now.

Practice makes perfect

Another advantage of going paperless during your study is your life after graduation.

A few minutes of lurking on social media will show people complaining about their companies not digital enough. Issues vary, from communication, task management, to "boomers being boomers" etc. Companies and industries must now accommodate to keep their employees, meaning they too must digitalise their policy, system, and workflow to keep up with the organic growth of digitalisation. If not, well, that is one of the reasons for The Great Resignation.

Modern workplace

What does this mean for you? It means that as a graduate, you should have decent IT knowledge - enough to survive a job interview at least. The employer will only integrate you into their working environment and culture. They will not raise you from "zero to hero". They will not take you by the hand and show you how to utilise MS Office. That is what you learn at university.

Going paperless during your studies is a good practice for your IT-related skills. It urges you to keep exploring new updates and new applications, to be flexible, and to be on top of the game. Furthermore, depending on your major and the industry you aim for later, you might gain a huge advantage by getting to know specific systems and programs in the industry.

Good preparation never hurts.

The inevitable “against” argument

Having used papers and pens up until the second semester at my university, I do have some good arguments on why you should not go fully paperless.

First, staring at the screen takes a toll on your eyes. Your eyes are dry, hurt, and red all the time if you are lucky. If not, you need to invest in a good pair of glasses. If you are stubborn like me and refuse to wear glasses, the world is going to be very blurry for you. I do not mind my blurry vision, but it surely irritates me from time to time.

Data privacy?

Second, data protection is an issue we need to talk about. Having all your data digitalised means you depend on the Internet connection and your device. One wrong click and poof, it is gone. Uploading data to cloud services is one way to ensure you do not make a silly mistake like that. Then again, is your data truly safe using a cloud service? Is it accessible to only you, or someone else also?

The answer to this depends on which cloud service you are using. I do not mind storing my data in iCloud or Notion or OneDrive, but that is me. I do not have any sensitive data, nor do I have anything worth being stolen for that matter. If some hackers want to see how many abandoned drafts I have in my cloud, they are free to do so. My abandoned drafts are just random thoughts anyway.

Paper or no paper?

Having spent many years with pen and paper before switching to 100% paperless, I can see the pros and cons of both methods. Pen and papers have a special place in my heart. There is something inexplicably romantic in the idea of writing your ideas down with an actual pen on a real paper. Yet, for practicality, I will advocate for going paperless, especially if you are going to college. You are going to need some time to explore all the options and limits that digitalisation has to offer. But in the end, it will make your life much easier.