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Comment by Stwerner | Hacker News Reader

While programming I love scribbling down notes and ideas on a notepad. There is something about the change in mindset or context from screen and keyboard to pen and paper that helps me see the whole picture of what I am working on, or even just get a thought out of my head temporarily to be able to stay on the current task. Does anyone else do this, and have you found any piece of technology to replace that?

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While that's great, your scribbling on paper while coding can't sustain the enormous empires that were built up around the sale of paper. Things like books and corporate purchases are what did that. And if even just 90% of paper usage is eliminated in those contexts, you'll see those empires come crashing down.

What would happen to the price of paper if suddenly demand is decimated like that? If the price of light paper goods increases dramatically, I predict that consumers will increasingly adopt new note-taking/scribbling solutions (like and iPad app). After one new generation of people grows up accustomed to accomplishing all of their formerly paper-based tasks digitally (even simple tasks like doodling), I believe that paper will truly be a fixture of the past.

I have a real desire for a ~ 8.5x11 (or A4, it doesn't really matter I guess) size whiteboard built into my desk right in front of my keyboard. That could probably replace paper for 95% of my ideas. If they could come out with a finer tipped marker, I would be in heaven.

I think the key idea you've hit on is that paper is relatively permanent, even when we don't need it to be. For lots of moderate term stuff, it could easily be replaced if only it weren't quite as cheap.

I have one that's roughly 11x17 and not mounted to anything. Works great!

I still scribble on paper - I wouldn't feel right if I couldn't put the Pc down for a bit and start scribbling.

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