Reading in a New Light

Making the proclamation to make my education paperless has not only made me turn on my computer, but it has made me turn the light on myself. I constantly have an influx of articles to read in my classes. There is 30 pages here , 15 pages there. For once, an inhibitor of this sustainable behavior is not being LAZY. In order to read the online articles on the convenience of paper I will actually leave my dorm room and walk to a printer in the library… any college student will tell you that’s a lot of work and time to just print out a paper. So I have recognized that it is going to actually take a conscious effort to stay placed at my desk and read the article on my laptop, seems kind of ridiculous right?

During my week of reflection, I also realized I fell victim to convenience. In Scott hall, I was completing structured study hours with Katelyn, a fellow classmate, and she asked me if I wanted her to print out a copy of this weeks readings with hers. I absentmindedly answered, “Sure,” while I worked on Chemistry. It wasn’t until she walked in and plopped the thick packet of paper onto my notebook, that I realized what I’d agreed to. I’ll admit I was partial okay with it because it meant I got to read the hard copy. I mean it was already printed out, right? It was like any bad habit, I loved it while I was doing it, but once I finished I realized I’d never use this paper again. The splurge into the bad habit makes me realize how much mental effort it is going to take to keep readings electronic.

While learning about my own foreshadowed troubles with going paperless, I decided to check out some other’s opinions and experiences. I stumbled across an article on the Web of Science. The article called Designing a Multi-Slate Reading Environment to Support Active Reading Activities (Chen, N, 2012) , discussed students and workers transition into paperless reading. It addressed the issue of people’s transition to electronic reading due to the dominance of paper. Paper is so dominant because it is flexible and able to fit a variety of people’s reading requirements. The article then researched how to make paperless reading more adaptable to people’s reading habits. They came to the conclusion that new electronics such as tablets have been and will be instrumental in giving paperless reading a fighting chance against traditional paper. The article gave me the idea that maybe if I plan on adopting my sustainable behavior long term, looking at buying some of the new technology coming out daily may ease my transition.

And now as I hold my last printed article and hard cover notebook in my hand, I say goodbye to paper for the next 5 and half weeks. Wish me luck in resisting the temptation of paper and walking to the library!

Chen, N (2012). Designing a Multi-Slate Reading Environment to Support Active Reading Activities. ACM TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTER-HUMAN INTERACTION, 19(3). Retrieved from Web of Science.