Planet vs People: Is a paperless society all that it's marked up to be?

By Special Correspondent Molly, 17, Jill Dando News @ TKASA

Recently we have seen our planet hit a climate crisis, with recognition being brought to the issues that our environment faces through the huge influence of planetary activists such as Sir David Attenborough and young Greta Thunburg.

Rising global temperatures resulting in forest fires, rising sea levels and melting ice caps, leaving much of our wildlife without a habitat, and leaving many at risk of losing their homes due to increased rates of coastal erosion, no wonder why the cause for concern has been brought to light at such an extreme rate.

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There are many ways that our society is trying to combat the climate crisis, through more sustainable ways of living, such as switching energy sources, reducing plastic use, and above all else, going paperless, which is seen to be happening among many schools in an effort to slow the rates of climate change.

However, a decreased use of paper to pen, enhancing our reliance on hardware and software, comes paired with a knock on effect on the health of our society. In many ways, being attached to a screen at all moments of the day can be detrimental to the way in which we function, as access to the internet freely enables procrastination to prey upon innocent people.

In addition, increased screen time can create strain on our eyes, minds, and sleep, as it never really enables us to switch off- work in a notepad ends when the book is closed, however while technology may have an off button, there's a temptation there to pick up our phones for the smallest of reasons.

Schools being solely focused on online work from primary age requires the use of technology incredibly young, and while the computer may belong to a parent, carer or guardian, there is still a risk of exposure to social media at an age that still holds a sense of vulnerability.

So, while an online folder may be much easier to organise than one full of papers, the risk of losing a harddrive risks an entire years worth of work disappearing into infinity, which is perhaps more frightening than losing one piece of paper.

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