The myth of paper reduction

You always hear about how the new technology will reduce the amount of paperwork and reduce costs. Although it is true that reduction of paperwork has taken place but still it was and has been a myth that the new technology would replace the need for paperwork. For example, last weekend I was in the hospital getting my daughter discharged after an operation and the amount of paperwork needed to get her discharged made me come to think of the paper reduction myth. This year, the social security administration has said that they would not mail the annual social security statement and thus would reduce the amount of paperwork and further more the social security checks would not be mailed out any longer but will be directly deposited in your account thus reducing the paperwork.

But still we use tremendous amount of paperwork each day and although the technology has reduce some paperwork, the use of paperwork has not been reduced in other areas, since people still feel comfortable receiving paper in the mail just to remind them that they have to pay some bill. But if paper is entirely eliminated, unless you open up your email, how would you know that you would have to pay the bill or the older generation who still rely on paper mail would be at a loss of how to pay their bills. So although paperwork would indeed be reduced but not eliminated entirely anytime soon.