Getting back to physical offices, it’s not just the workers that are starting to disappear but the paperwork too. Historically, paper has always been an important part of office life and the idea of a paperless office has been a symbol for modernity and efficiency since the early 1960s. The early theory was that computerisation would eventually render physical paper in physical offices obsolete. Unfortunately, what happened was the exact opposite. From about 1990 to 2001 paper consumption increased, not least because people had more material to print and because printing was more convenient and cheaper. But since 2001 paper use has started to fall. Why?

The reason is partly sociological. Generation Y, the generation born roughly at the same time as the Personal Computer, has started working in offices and these workers are comfortable reading things on screens and storing or retrieving information digitally. Moreover, digital information can be tagged, searched and stored in more than one place so Gen Y are fully aware of the advantages of digital paper and digital filing. All well and good you might think but I’m not so sure.

One of the great advantages of paper over pixels is that paper provides greater sensory stimulus. Some studies have suggested that a lack of sensory stimulation not only leads to increased stress but that memory and thinking are also adversely affected.

For example, one study found that after two days of complete isolation, the memory capacity of volunteers had declined by 36%. More worryingly, all of the subjects became more suggestible. This was a fairly extreme study but surely a similar principal could apply to physical offices versus virtual offices or information held on paper versus information held on computer (i.e. digital files or interactive screens actually reduce the amount of interaction with ideas).

Now I’m not suggesting that digital information can’t sometimes be stimulating but I am saying that physical information (especially paper files, books, newspapers and so on) is easier on the eye. Physical paper is faster to scan and easier to annotate. As we’ve seen in an earlier chapter, paper also seems to stimulate thinking in a way that pixels do not. Indeed, in my experience the only real advantage of digital files over physical files is cost or the fact that they are easier to distribute.

There are some forms of information that do need to be widely circulated but with most the wider the circulation list, the lower the importance of the information or the lower the real need for action or input. As for the ability to easily distribute information this can seriously backfire. Technology is creating social isolation because there is no longer any physical need to visit other people in person. Paperless offices are clearly a good idea on many levels but I wonder what the effects will be over the longer term? What I’m getting at here is that offices aren’t just about work any more than schools are just about exams. Physical interaction is a basic human need and we will pay a very high price if we reduce all relationships (and information) to the lowest cost formats.

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This is a pre-edit extract from my new book, Future Minds, out UK October 2010 (Australia/NZ April 2011).