Closing the book on digital

New statistics have shown that reading physical print has greater benefits than digital

Technology has been advancing as the years pass by to the point where anyone can now read digitally, but a lot of people aren’t really fond of this due to physical print being more efficient through a learning approach, parenting techniques and has fewer health risks to vision.

Nowadays, the majority of smartphone users are easily distracted because while they read digitally, they may get text message or social media notifications. Whereas, when physical print is read, distraction is less likely to happen.

Reading in print can be engaging because it makes people more focused academically, for example, students tend to prefer physical print copies over the digital copy.

According to an article from the Washington Post, it specifies that textbook makers, bookstore owners, and even college students surveys all tremendously agree that they enjoy reading print better than they enjoy reading digitally.

Naomi S. Baron, an American University linguist for digital communication asked students why they love reading print rather than reading digitally, and their response was that they enjoy reading print because it takes them longer and they also read very carefully.

In the same article, it found that when the 2014 Fall semester was approaching only nine percent of students bought E-books, and 87 percent bought print textbooks.

This statistic shows that students prefer reading print because they can understand the material more. In contrast, students buy fewer E-books because they’re more likely to get distracted.

This significant difference shows that students still and enjoy reading print textbooks. Not only have students felt that reading print is more useful than digital when it comes to academics, but parents agree as well.

Pew Research Center wrote an article called “In a digital age, Parents value printed books for their children” and conducted research that showed that 87 percent of parents agree to their children reading print textbooks, whereas 13 percent of parents don’t really care if they read print books.

Another reason reading print is more efficient than reading in digital is because you’re less likely to have problems with your vision. According to an article by CBS News “Tablets and E-books readers can interfere with their sleep”, it is scientifically proven that reading digitally can affect you because of the bluish light from the electronics.

The majority of the American people, including adults that have read e-books, highly believe that people including their children should still rather read in print.

“I’m reading a book on a tablet and my children don’t know if I’m reading a book or if I’m playing on Twitter,” said Larry Zickuhr, an adult who expressed his opinion on saying why his children should read in print in the same article.

“So I think it’s important to have the book so that they go, Oh, “Dad’s reading”, not just; ‘Oh he’s updating his Facebook page,’” said Zickuhr. “I think there is like a difference in that.”

Parents remember their childhood of going to the library when they were little kids and having the pleasure of reading print books, and they want their children to experience the same thing.

Parents feel that the illustration is way better in print than it is digitally, they also agree that their children feel more engaged when they’re reading print books.

Reading digitally may affect some people and it may make their reading more proficient, but reading in print is way more efficient. When someone is reading off of their phone or laptop, it can get very distracting and allows for people to get off track easily.