This morning my two year old was pretending to write out a grocery list and I had a weird thought.
How long before we don’t write anymore?
I do my large volume handwriting on post-it notes which are scattered across my desk. On a very rare occasion that I write a check I struggle with remembering the proper cursive that I used to write all my school papers with. Everything else is typed out, digitally stored, and virtually non-existent in reality. It’s only a matter of time before typing becomes obsolete as well. With multi-touch technology and a push for better voice recognition software, all you’ll eventually have to do to send an email is talk and wave your hand.
I’m still waiting for hover cars but in the meantime the future that 80’s sci-fi envisioned is quickly passing by.
We were promised a ‘paperless society” several decades ago and the passage of the ‘electronic signature’ laws at the end of the Clinton administration was supposed to speedily bring about such a condition. However, in my profession, we’ve found our use of reams of printer paper has increased rapidly, especially in the last few weeks, as the latest ‘upgrade’ and ‘enhancements’ to our professional software has resulted in several pages of information and explanations for the patient to be printed for each prescription we dispense. The most peculiar and unecessary one is 14 pages long and duplicates the paperwork insetred inside the box ox Advair Inhalers, so it is redundant and a waste of 14 pages of paper for our system to print it also since the patient gets their inhaler in a sealed box containing the information anyway. We have to remember to check the box for “do not print’ patient information for every prescription that falls into this category. Too many for even a PhD in public health to remember.
Comment by Merilyn — March 29, 2009 @ 10:57 pm