You might be wondering whether there is a difference between reading traditional books versus on-screen. The short answer is yes. In an article, pediatric neurologist Martin L. Kutscher, MD, describes four ways online reading can impede in-depth learning.
1. Screens lack the tactile experience
Research indicates the physical act of holding a book helps us to absorb the information we are reading, Dr Kutscher advises. It seems the combination of touch and sight help the brain to pay attention and more effectively assimilate what we’re reading.
2. Hypertexts and scrolling can be problematic
While they are often an important component of online articles, Kutscher notes that hypertexts can be distracting, especially when readers jump from one site to another. Furthermore, when reading a book, we have fixed cues about where we are up to in the text. For example, we have a rough idea of our place on a given page (such as the top left corner), and how far we are into a book (by the number of pages in our left versus right hands).
In contrast, screens scroll, alter text size, present pop-up ads and more, all of which make it harder to form a reliable visualization of what we’re reading and relocate where we were up to on-screen.
3. It can encourage shallow reading
Whereas a book is a complete package, reading online can lead to skipping from one subject to another, skimming through sites seeking the next exciting morsel of information. Kutscher notes that an average web page holds the reader for 18 seconds.
He adds that this “may interfere with the development of deep reading skills such as thoughtful pondering, critical analysis and inferential thinking,'' because the brain connections needed for deep reading (such as those involved in visual and phonological processing) may not be formed in people who learn mainly by shallow reading.
4. Distractions are readily available
On Internet-enabled devices, distractions such as video games and social media are right there. Kutscher notes that 90 percent of students felt they were more likely to be multitasking while reading online, compared to only 1 percent for reading a hardcopy document.
While there are clear benefits for reading hardcopy books, children should balance this with reading from screens. In other words, it is not one or the other, but a balance between hardcopy and screen.
You might be wondering whether there is a difference between reading traditional books versus on-screen. The short answer is yes. In an article, pediatric neurologist Martin L. Kutscher, MD, describes four ways online reading can impede in-depth learning.
1. Screens lack the tactile experience
Research indicates the physical act of holding a book helps us to absorb the information we are reading, Dr Kutscher advises. It seems the combination of touch and sight help the brain to pay attention and more effectively assimilate what we’re reading.
2. Hypertexts and scrolling can be problematic
While they are often an important component of online articles, Kutscher notes that hypertexts can be distracting, especially when readers jump from one site to another. Furthermore, when reading a book, we have fixed cues about where we are up to in the text. For example, we have a rough idea of our place on a given page (such as the top left corner), and how far we are into a book (by the number of pages in our left versus right hands).
In contrast, screens scroll, alter text size, present pop-up ads and more, all of which make it harder to form a reliable visualization of what we’re reading and relocate where we were up to on-screen.
3. It can encourage shallow reading
Whereas a book is a complete package, reading online can lead to skipping from one subject to another, skimming through sites seeking the next exciting morsel of information. Kutscher notes that an average web page holds the reader for 18 seconds.
He adds that this “may interfere with the development of deep reading skills such as thoughtful pondering, critical analysis and inferential thinking,'' because the brain connections needed for deep reading (such as those involved in visual and phonological processing) may not be formed in people who learn mainly by shallow reading.
4. Distractions are readily available
On Internet-enabled devices, distractions such as video games and social media are right there. Kutscher notes that 90 percent of students felt they were more likely to be multitasking while reading online, compared to only 1 percent for reading a hardcopy document.
While there are clear benefits for reading hardcopy books, children should balance this with reading from screens. In other words, it is not one or the other, but a balance between hardcopy and screen.