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In Star Trek, people are often handed PADDs holding various bits of information and told to take them to one place or another, which seems awfully inefficient. Why is it done that way? Specifically, I know it happens a lot in Voyager. (Sometimes, people enter information into a PADD and then take it elsewhere themselves, but for the purposes of this question, that is essentially the same thing.)

I am not talking about instances where people take data someplace where there is no computer terminal available, to work on it (for example, sitting in the mess hall writing a report or pouring over sensor data to the tune of a pot of coffee or tea). Sometimes, even with computer terminals being ubiquitous, wanting to work in a place where there is no computer terminal readily available is perfectly reasonable.

They have the ability to transfer information from one computer terminal to another (I don't know how many times it's said on the bridge to "transfer the coordinates to the helm", and occasionally entire function areas are transferred between workstations), and essentially everything is connected to the same (set of) computer core(s) anyway, so how come the transfers shown as people carrying PADDs around aren't done by just tapping a few controls?

Is it only Plot Device, or is there an actual in-universe explanation that I simply fail to see?

In Star Trek, people are often handed PADDs (Personal Access Display Devices) holding various bits of information and told to take them to one place or another, which seems awfully inefficient. Why is it done that way? Specifically, I know it happens a lot in Voyager. (Sometimes, people enter information into a PADD and then take it elsewhere themselves, but for the purposes of this question, that is essentially the same thing.)

I am not talking about instances where people take data someplace where there is no computer terminal available, to work on it (for example, sitting in the mess hall writing a report or pouring over sensor data to the tune of a pot of coffee or tea). Sometimes, even with computer terminals being ubiquitous, wanting to work in a place where there is no computer terminal readily available is perfectly reasonable.

They have the ability to transfer information from one computer terminal to another (I don't know how many times it's said on the bridge to "transfer the coordinates to the helm", and occasionally entire function areas are transferred between workstations), and essentially everything is connected to the same (set of) computer core(s) anyway, so how come the transfers shown as people carrying PADDs around aren't done by just tapping a few controls?

Is it only Plot Device, or is there an actual in-universe explanation that I simply fail to see?

In Star Trek, people are often handed PADDs holding various bits of information and told to take them to one place or another, which seems awfully inefficient. Why is it done that way? Specifically, I know it happens a lot in Voyager. (Sometimes, people enter information into a PADD and then take it elsewhere themselves, but for the purposes of this question, that is essentially the same thing.)

They have the ability to transfer information from one computer terminal to another (I don't know how many times it's said on the bridge to "transfer the coordinates to the helm", and occasionally entire function areas are transferred between workstations), and essentially everything is connected to the same (set of) computer core(s) anyway, so how come the transfers shown as people carrying PADDs around aren't done by just tapping a few controls?

Is it only Plot Device, or is there an actual in-universe explanation that I simply fail to see?

In Star Trek, people are often handed PADDs holding various bits of information and told to take them to one place or another, which seems awfully inefficient. Why is it done that way? Specifically, I know it happens a lot in Voyager. (Sometimes, people enter information into a PADD and then take it elsewhere themselves, but for the purposes of this question, that is essentially the same thing.)

I am not talking about instances where people take data someplace where there is no computer terminal available, to work on it (for example, sitting in the mess hall writing a report or pouring over sensor data to the tune of a pot of coffee or tea). Sometimes, even with computer terminals being ubiquitous, wanting to work in a place where there is no computer terminal readily available is perfectly reasonable.

They have the ability to transfer information from one computer terminal to another (I don't know how many times it's said on the bridge to "transfer the coordinates to the helm", and occasionally entire function areas are transferred between workstations), and essentially everything is connected to the same (set of) computer core(s) anyway, so how come the transfers shown as people carrying PADDs around aren't done by just tapping a few controls?

Is it only Plot Device, or is there an actual in-universe explanation that I simply fail to see?

In Star Trek, people are often handed PADDs holding various bits of information and told to take them to one place or another, which seems awfully inefficient. Why is it done that way? Specifically, I know it happens a lot in Voyager.

They have the ability to transfer information from one computer terminal to another (I don't know how many times it's said on the bridge "transfer the coordinates to the helm", and occasionally entire function areas are transferred between workstations), and essentially everything is connected to the same (set of) computer core(s) anyway, so how come the transfers shown as people carrying PADDs around aren't done by just tapping a few controls?

Is it only Plot Device, or is there an actual in-universe explanation that I simply fail to see?

In Star Trek, people are often handed PADDs holding various bits of information and told to take them to one place or another, which seems awfully inefficient. Why is it done that way? Specifically, I know it happens a lot in Voyager. (Sometimes, people enter information into a PADD and then take it elsewhere themselves, but for the purposes of this question, that is essentially the same thing.)

They have the ability to transfer information from one computer terminal to another (I don't know how many times it's said on the bridge to "transfer the coordinates to the helm", and occasionally entire function areas are transferred between workstations), and essentially everything is connected to the same (set of) computer core(s) anyway, so how come the transfers shown as people carrying PADDs around aren't done by just tapping a few controls?

Is it only Plot Device, or is there an actual in-universe explanation that I simply fail to see?