Paper vs. digital, part 1: Environment and understanding
Digitalisation is advancing and changing fundamental aspects of our lives at a speed that is nothing short of incredible. If we think back just once to what our everyday lives were like 25 years ago and what they look like now, we can only marvel. However, one thing has not changed: Paper is important to us. This centuries-old cultural asset seems to fulfil needs that cannot be replaced digitally. Why is that? And what does it mean for the environment? In the first part of the "Paper vs. digital" series, we compare the two media in terms of their ecological aspects and take a look at the findings of reading research.
For us as a sustainable company, it is always the question of all questions: Which is more environmentally friendly? Today we are asking it in relation to the comparison of print media with digital media. This is not an easy endeavour, as a direct comparison is difficult - but we want to attempt an approximation. Let's take a look at the aspects of raw material, water and energy consumption as well as estimates of the carbon footprint.
Paper vs. digital - raw material
As few paper manufacturers work like Steinbeis Papier, it must be assumed that wood is the main resource for the raw material comparison of print media. A large proportion of the paper used overall is still virgin fibre paper. This renewable raw material is largely obtained in Scandinavian commercial forests for Germany. The paper obtained from this is 78% recycled.
The raw materials required for digital media are not renewable. These are some precious metals and rare earths, such as tantalum, palladium, cobalt, gold, silver and copper. Some of them come from regions such as Central Africa, where rainforests are cleared for their extraction and working conditions are often very poor. In Germany, 43% of electronic waste is recycled, with most of the rest ending up back in newly industrialising countries. In terms of raw materials, print therefore clearly performs better than digital, as renewable raw materials are generally more sustainable than precious metals. However, it should also be borne in mind that the balance of digital media improves with increasing useful life, and also if the raw materials used are recycled at the end of the life cycle.
Paper vs. digital - water
Water consumption can also only be compared on the basis of estimates and average values, as it depends heavily on the individual usage behaviour of consumers. The decisive factor here is the so-called virtual water, i.e. the water that is consumed over the entire production process and subsequent use and disposal.
→ Read more about virtual water in our blog post "How we use water".
One sheet of virgin fibre paper consumes around 10 litres of water during production. Recycled paper, on the other hand, only uses around 100 ml per sheet. Around 20,000 litres of water are needed to manufacture a computer. At first glance, it seems clear: paper wins. However, in this case too, it must be borne in mind that a computer can be used for years, while a large proportion of paper is processed into products that are only used once.
Paper vs. digital - energy and CO₂
The comparison is particularly interesting when it comes to energy: the paper industry is the fifth largest industrial energy consumer in the world. The manufacture of paper products from virgin fibres is therefore very energy-intensive - but their subsequent use is no longer. Once a book has been printed, it can be used for decades and no longer consumes any energy at all. Furthermore, if the book is printed on recycled paper certified with the Blue Angel, it has consumed only a fraction of the energy required by a virgin fibre product during its production.
The production of electronic devices is also energy-intensive, but above all their use. The internet alone produces as much CO₂ as global air traffic. According to estimates, energy consumption will also grow rapidly and by 2030 will be as high as the energy consumption of the entire world population in 2011. In this respect, the exact opposite applies to the use of both media: the more and the longer people use a paper product, the better its energy balance. The more and the longer people use the internet, the worse its energy balance, as we can see: Whether digital media or print media are more sustainable cannot be answered in general terms, but only on a case-by-case basis. The decisive factor here is usage behaviour. And in the case of paper, whether it is fresh fibre or recycled paper. Now we come to the second part of this article: reading research. Here we find some clues as to why paper is irreplaceable for us.
Is reading the same as reading?
You can easily answer this question yourself: Do you read a book in the same way as a WhatsApp message? Hardly. So there is slow reading and fast reading. And we seem to be unlearning the former more and more as digitalisation progresses. According to findings from cognitive science, we now find it more difficult to muster the patience and calm necessary to really immerse ourselves in a story. We are now more accustomed to scanning rather than reading. This is because we read more on screens, which has changed our entire reading behaviour. With screens, we are more inclined to read superficially and quickly - unsurprisingly, as the pace of the digital world is incredibly fast and we are constantly exposed to new messages, i.e. stimuli. In order to stay on the ball, we have had to learn to read quickly and categorise information rapidly according to its relevance. However, this adaptation also means that we now sometimes have problems reading slowly and with concentration and engaging with a narrative. But don't worry: everyone can learn to do this again. If we create a balance that allows us to integrate both scanning emails and reading stories into our everyday lives, we cultivate the skills that are necessary for both. "But reading stories is just entertainment", some may think. That may be true, but we can also learn a lot in the process
Those who read a lot improve their empathy skills
Findings from reading research confirm that in-depth reading is a skill that we should not unlearn - because it helps us to become empathetic people. In psychology, this is referred to as the "theory of mind". It describes the thought processes that are necessary to empathise with others. And people who read a lot obviously have a better "theory of mind". This is also understandable when you realise that stories describe situations and actions that are simulated in the reader's head, so to speak. The fictional characters interact with each other, think, feel, and we as the people reading about them are virtually there live - and we learn a lot as a result. Does it matter whether we are reading on a screen or in a book? That's not easy to answer. We certainly have a tendency to prefer reading texts in printed form, the longer and more complex they are. And studies with students have shown that they can answer questions about a text better if they have read it on a sheet of paper rather than on a laptop. Text comprehension is better with printed texts.
Information is better absorbed in print
Meta-analyses of over 50 studies confirm this: Readers understand non-fiction texts better when they are printed, partly because there is no distracting multimedia content. For purely informational texts, paper is superior to digital. However, the same studies also suggest that this does not apply to narrative texts - the latest novel by your favourite author can therefore be absorbed and enjoyed just as well digitally as in print. However, many people find it easier to get into the "flow", i.e. a state of complete immersion, when they read printed texts. This can be attributed to the aforementioned adaptation, according to which we constantly condition ourselves to read digitally faster and more superficially. We simply concentrate less when we have a screen in front of us than when we are reading a book. However, this also has its advantages: If we want to find out about a topic, it is much more efficient to scan the internet and read across.
We conclude that reading is not just reading. Both ways of reading, digital and printed, have their own areas of responsibility and therefore cannot replace or supersede each other. We can utilise the advantages of both types - but we must ensure that we train and maintain our reading skills for both media.
Cover picture: Trent Erwin/Unsplash
Isabella Bigler is an editor and copywriter. Here she writes about sustainable topics, the past and the future - occasionally with the support of her dedicated interns Lumen Nguyen and Liam Jennings.
