Business cards are a waste of paper

Look. I'm Japanese. This statement I've just made is liable to lose me my citizenship. Business cards, or meishi, as they're called back home, are a vital tool in the business world there. There's a whole etiquette to how you hand them out (with both hands), who gets whose first (the most senior guys, of course), how you receive them (bowing, as if this piece of stiff paper were a deity).

I thought about this whole ridiculous charade today as I read this piece on WSJ.com about creating biz cards that accurately reflect who you are and what you do. Worthy advice, to be sure, especially if you're between jobs and/or a freelancer. The article says,

Whether you're starting over or starting out, you need a business card that makes a memorable first impression in today's tight employment market. How can jobless older applicants and young graduates devise cards that are successful marketing tools? There is no single formula for winning with cards, of course.

Fair enough. But then I thought: why, exactly, do we persist in this arcane practice in a day and age when all of our contact information is digital? Again, back to my home country: for years now, new business contacts have whipped out a cell phone upon introduction and entered your name, phone number and other pertinent info. Our cell phones or PDAs are our Rolodexes now. So why do we still carry around the little pieces of dead tree?

You tell me. Business cards: thumbs up or down?