Living In A ‘Paper’-less Society

(I work for a small private college that caters mostly to adults. Many of our students haven’t been inside a classroom in years, and don’t fully understand the expectations of college students. A good friend of mine is the writing tutor, and I overhear this exchange:)

Friend: “Okay, according to the appointment book, it looks like you wanted help with getting your research paper in APA format?”

Student: “Yeah” *makes no move to get out her paper*

Friend: “…Can I see it?”

Student: “Oh. Sure.” *gets out her phone, hits a couple buttons, and passes the phone across the desk*

Friend: *stunned silence* “Are you telling me that you typed a 12-page research paper… that’s supposed to be in APA format… on your phone?”

Student: “Yeah. It looks all weird when I try to print it, though. Can you fix it?”