Sketch pads let you use better writing tools and are less messy than whiteboards. My mom is disabled and can no longer speak well. We used a white board for a while which worked well when she could use it as an assist to speaking. Thing is, degenerative PSP ruins muscle control, and her writing also became worse. I bought a sketchpad and some fine tip pens and markers for it so her writing wouldn't smudge together as much. Thanks to that, I can still have a sort of conversation with her.
If you're worried about paper, well, there are worse ways to use it.