I’m hearing more comments about the decline of paper lately. I don’t mean to say paper is going away, but fewer people are using it for what used to be common uses. Take the mail for example. When was the last time you wrote a handwritten letter to someone just to say hello?

I can’t remember either.

More places are accepting your monthly bill online. I never carry cash anymore. I usually swipe a debit card. The only paper I usually see is the thin slip of thermal paper they give you when you’ve paid for something.

The other day, I picked up an old book I’ve been meaning to read. I first read it in high school and I forgot how the plot played out. I wanted to revisit it. I believe my mother gave me a used copy a while back, so I picked it up and started to follow along.

The story was better than I remembered. The book itself was a good one to hold. It even woke me up a few times as I dropped it on my face when i dozed off late at night.

Red hard back. The pages browned with age due to the acid in the pages. It smelled old. The story may be old too, but the mental images it brought me were as fresh as any movie.

With the rapid technological revolution upon us, I wonder how many more years it will be before we’re done with paper books and bills and other items altogether.

It wasn’t that long ago “record” stores began selling 8-track tapes. Then there were cassettes. Then along came CD’s. But those mp3 files and web applications like i-tunes took hold. One day I looked up and the only ‘record’ sections I could find were at Wal-Mart or Hastings bookstores.

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