By Benjamin Minch, Staff Writer
Binders have been a common way of transporting papers and books in schools for decades. Recently however, more people have been switching over to carrying everything in their backpacks. Why is this shift occurring and what are the benefits of one type over the other?
Data was gathered over the course of three days at Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) using a point count method. I counted every person that I saw between periods during the day and a total of 111 people were observed. Here are the results.
Out of these 111, 29 were seen using a binder, while 82 were seen without binders in their hands. This means that approximately 26% of people used a binder and a whopping 74% of people didn’t have a binder.
This data shows the vast difference in the numbers of people without binders versus the people with binders as there are significantly more people who don’t use binders. Some possible reasons for this would be style, lack of necessity or unwanted bulkiness.
With the growing style of the 21st century, binders still look the same as they did decades ago, which are starting to become outdated. Many students feel that binders look clunky and quite ugly.
“I don’t use a binder because they always get dirty and gross,” said senior Daniel Sanders.
Binders have also become less necessary now that most teachers assign online homework. This means that there is less paper distributed as homework, so there is no need for something to carry that paper. There are currently five online classes at FVHS and that number continues to increase as our world becomes more technologically advanced, so the trend in binders will continue to decline.
The third problem with binders is that they are very bulky and sometimes too hard to carry from place to place.
“I ride my bike to school and carrying a binder while riding is a very hard task to accomplish,” said Sanders.
The countless number of times I have forgotten my binder in a class makes it a very easy item to misplace because it isn’t attached to your backpack. Remembering to pick up your binder after class occupies part of your brain space because it isn’t something you would normally have to do.
Overall, binders are on the decline for reasons that are very apparent in today’s society, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this number continued to decline over the next few years. Binders and folders are constantly being replaced with online folders and documents, making them unable to keep up the increasing technology of the modern era and eventually, obsolete.
