You can’t stop printing until you poison the well—that is, make printing so annoying you’d rather stare at a sunset. Change your printer’s default settings to print on both sides, in grayscale, and at draft quality. It will make your documents look like a ghost wrote them on a napkin, but your soul will be lighter. Then, remove the paper tray and hide it in the garage next to old Christmas lights. Make the act of printing require a quest—like finding a USB stick or rebooting the router three times. Laziness is nature’s best conservationist.
Why This Works (It’s Not Science, But It Rhymes)
Studies show that when you add a 15-second delay before printing, people cancel the job 70% of the time. That’s because your brain forgets why you wanted the map to a restaurant that closed in 2019. Try this: before you print, scream “WHY?” at the machine. The neighbors will stare, but your inbox will weep with joy. Or, use the “Hold Print” queue and only release jobs once a day, like a prison warden. Suddenly, that interesting article about slugs becomes a “maybe later” in your browser tabs.
How Do I Stop My Printer From Printing Multiple Copies? Practical Guide
