We live in a technology-driven society today. Technology has transformed the way we do things and the way we live. Reading is no exception to it. Years ago we could not have imagined swiping through electronic pages to read a book online on a device that resembled a book, but really was meant to be a replacement. And yet, today we all read most of our texts digitally – be it an interesting ebook on Kindle or just browsing through the current affairs on your smartphone. So why are people more driven towards reading digitally today and why do some still find comfort in holding a paperback? How are these two mediums different? Let’s find out.
Reading Print
Paper books were supposed to have gone extinct like the dinosaurs by now according to various theorists. But the fact that they still around tell us that it may never happen because there will always be readers who prefer this medium over reading digitally. Reading on paper has a lot of benefits and over the years researchers have been analyzing the reasons why some people prefer print. Studies have shown that reading print fares better when you need to focus, absorb, and retain a particular information. When you read using print your brain is stimulated and you can grasp complex information or really long texts in a much better way than you would if it were on a digital medium. Reading digitally is more suited for browsing and scanning shorter articles.
“Reading is human-technology interaction,” says literacy professor Anne Mangen of Norway’s University of Stavenger. “Perhaps the tactility and physical permanence of paper yields a different cognitive and emotional experience.” This is especially true, she says, for “reading that can’t be done in snippets, scanning here and there, but requires sustained attention.”
Reading Digitally
Screens make us read slower, retain lesser information, and also learn less deeply. Probably this is the reason most of the students choose to print out their soft copy notes into a print material. This allows them to look at the text, highlight the important parts, and get a feeling of where they are in the content. There are entirely different processes and behaviors that go into reading on print as compared to reading on screens that have serious implications on our understanding skills.
Ziming Liu of San Jose State University conducted a study in the year 2005 where he found out that when people read using screens they spent more time scanning and jumping around to look for keywords and get as much information as they could in the least amount of time. This provided the evidence which proved that reading on screens was a less immersive experience as compared to reading print.
Reading Print v/s Reading Digitally
The most obvious difference between reading on these two mediums is that with the print you can feel the weight and texture of the book you are reading. This direct experience provides you with a mental map of the entire content and makes it easier for your brain to retain what it reads. On the other hand, reading on a screen puts a lot of strain on your eyes and makes them work harder.
A study was conducted recently where data was collected from more than 429 universities from five different countries. The results showed that reading in print was less likely to encourage students to multitask (41%), whereas 67% indicated they were likely to multitask while reading digitally. Almost half the students also complained of “eyes burn” when reading digitally for longer hours. The science behind it is that when we read on a device, we don’t blink that often which causes our eyes to dry quickly, causing the strain.
However, with every technological advancement, we become closer to more effective digital reading patterns that cause lesser eyestrain. For example, Kindle uses ink or rather ‘e-ink’ and no light to light up the pixels on the screen. So you do not have to adjust your eyes to the change in light, plus the material of the screen is less reflective as it is not glass but a different material.
Finding a Balance
Whether you are curled up on your couch with a book or reading something on your laptop or iPad, maybe it is time to start acknowledging both these mediums as different yet complementary interfaces. Screens don’t have to replace books, but each can continue to exist in peaceful harmony. After all, aren’t we all on a journey of finding the right balance between reading on screens and reading on paper? Learning how to strike the perfect balance between the two could be a helpful exercise. Thus, deep reading that requires close reading and nonlinear reading that does not need to be too immersive can be balanced.
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