Unpredictable. Unfocused. Just like life.

Fifteen years ago I worked with a company that was going to revolutionize the office environment by making it paperless. We would scan everything and store only digital copies that could be searched and extracted as needed. Your office could be paper free, with attendant savings in paper and storage costs.

In fact, every company I've worked with since then has used the same "reduce paper and save paper and storage costs" as part of its value proposition. But the truth is that people feel more comfortable when they have a paper copy readily accessible in a filing cabinet somewhere.

This truism is proven by a recent study by Statistics Canada:

The arrival of the personal computer gave much talk to the "paperless office". However, between 1983 and 2003, consumption of paper for printing and writing alone more than doubled, according to the study, entitled "Our lives in digital times".

In addition, professional travel has most likely increased during a period when the Internet and videoconferencing technology were taking-off, while e-commerce sales do not justify fears about the demise of traditional retail.

Now personally I've been virtually paperless for years, keeping only copies of receipts and invoices I need for tax purposes. Everything else I capture on my trusty Macbook, which is always nearby. I do keep a notebook in which I jot down the occasional thing that I want to remember. But I rarely print anything and don't keep vast files of things.

And I must admit that the government has improved as well, allowing electronic filing in several instances. But it doesn't seem that we'll become a paperless society anytime soon.