Go paperless or go home

It's innovation, stupid.

Or is it? The concept of working paperless sounds - and, if you think about it, actually is - so simple you can hardly call it innovative anymore. We already have so much have e-readers, online papers, internet article databases, etc. Why do we even bother reading things on paper anymore?
Well, personally, I find it really hard to study or read for a longer period of time on a screen and tend to print every syllabus, article and all PowerPoint presentation hand-outs we receive. I've been doing so for many years, and have only recently realized just how wasteful this is. That is why I have decided to try and change this murderous habit of mine in the future and go paperless.

Evernote

How could I give this a go? Sometimes, technology comes to the rescue: one simple way to help you go paperless is to use Evernote. Evernote is an application (for Android, iOS, but also Windows) that has found a very clever way to reduce the number of trees you kill drastically.
Basically, it's a fancy library to store articles, papers and other texts. But there's more: the app uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition), which is, in human language, text recognition software. This enables you to simply make a screenshot or picture of any article/paper/ticket, store it in a folder (as you would do on your PC) and, later, find it back easily with the search engine function, using any word that appears in the image. The images are saved and synchronized immediately to your account, in a cloud, which means you can access them anywhere, anytime, on any device.

Check out their site on https://evernote.com/intl/nl/ or, if you're in lack of time, this short demonstration video:

Sure, it is only one way to (help you go) paperless, and a more fundamental attitude change is needed, but Evernote is a great way to help you on your way!

So, what do you think? Is your desk crisp, empty and clean, with nothing but a laptop on it? Or can you hardly see it anymore through all the piles of paper, clothes and other trash, like mine? Do you work paperless or are you, just as I am/was, a good ol' fashioned tree murderer? In that last case, how do you sleep at night, knowing that there are at over three million easy solutions to go paperless? Shame on you. And try Evernote.