I wanna say right off the bat: *this is not a paper books vs reader debate.* We all read on whatever, we like what we like, we all use both, and the topic is done to death.
I use a kindle mostly, and I do still have lots of paperbacks but it depends on my access and availability. I love both.
But I’ve seen on the internet lots of reports and studies that say stuff like “research shows that readers who read eBooks don’t retain information as well as people who read print books.”
I find that interesting because I’ve personally never had this problem. To me, my comprehension or lack thereof is because of *what* I read, not what i read *on*. I recently read Tropic of Cancer as a print book and I did have to read it then re-read a lot just to really grasp it, because the style of writing is very stream of consciousness which my brain needs to process. I don’t think paper vs eBook would have made a difference there. I read Brothers Karamazov on my Kindle and I think about almost every page constantly.
So I’m curious: all the people here who use eReaders, do any of you notice the comprehension issues this research claims to have? Paperback lovers, do you choose paperbacks to retain information better?
Edit: since a commenter asked for the research, here’s a bunch of links. It’s a lot of reading I apologize:
1) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297716778_Reading_Across_Mediums_Effects_of_Reading_Digital_and_Print_Texts_on_Comprehension_and_Calibration
2) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330221062_Comparing_Comprehension_of_a_Long_Text_Read_in_Print_Book_and_on_Kindle_Where_in_the_Text_and_When_in_the_Story
3) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0034654317722961
4) https://hechingerreport.org/textbook-dilemma-digital-paper/
5) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563216307154?via%3Dihub (this one appears to be heavily truncated though)
by oh_please_god_no
10 Comments
It makes no difference to me as far as comprehension goes. But for what it’s worth if I’m reading on a Kindle or a physical book, I’m less likely to be distracted than when I am reading on my desktop computer or my phone.
Can you link to this research? Research can be paid for by entities that have financial interest in it turning out a certain way. Research can be poorly designed. Research can have such small sample size that it’s useless. Research can depend on anecdotes. Without seeing the “research” you’re talking about, my opinion is that this isn’t worth discussing.
I cannot retain most books I try to read as an ebook. I don’t know exactly what the issue is, but everytime I try to read an ebook I’ll be several pages in, and middle of a paragraph I’ll realize I don’t know what I’m reading, when I try to read it and pay attention again, the same thing will happen. My mind just wanders when I’m reading an ebook. The only exception is when I read autobiography type books, those seem to be fine as an ebook, but fiction I can’t do no matter how many times I try
I have been reading exclusively on a Kindle for maybe 17 years now and do not notice any issues with the retention of information. I wish the Scribe was available when I was attending college for all my PDFs and note-taking.
I don’t have comprehension issues with ereaders, per se, but I noticed concentration issues occasionally (typically when I was mentally tired) when reading on my old phone vs. reading a physical book.
I only noticed because this issue went away completely when I got my Microsoft Surface 2 (a foldable phone) that allowed me to simulate an actual book in electronic form. The unfortunate side effect of this that I can’t go back to single screen readers unless Amazon or someone else comes out with a foldable version of an ereader.
I don’t have a reading comprehension issue on the e-reader, but I have a very old e-reader that does not display any type of images well. It’s very frustrating when the book refers to some kind of figure, graph, or anything visual. Because of that, I use my e-reader exclusively for fun novels that I want to read and take a mental break with. I prefer physical books for educational purposes because I like to be able to highlight, take notes, and color code my reading.
I suspect if I had a newer e-reader I would be able to do all those things happily, but I don’t. So that’s my two cents.
I had such issues in the past (having a hard time to understand and retain what i was reading), but i don’t think the e reader was at fault here. It happened when i was under unhealthy amounts of stress and now that i feel better i don’t have this problem anymore, or way less than before, even with ebooks. I guess i should try to read a physical book next to see if i notice any difference.
[removed]
I’ve seen those studies and I’ve also seen others that say there’s no difference or that the difference only exists for people not used to digital media. In any case I’ve not seen any conclusive evidence in either direction and I can remember books very clearly so I can’t be bothered to stress about it.
Only thing I can think of is that IF my mind wanders while I am reading a real book, I probably notice and snap out of it before turning the page, while with an e reader it can happen that I „turn“ the page without realising that I am not listening to the text.
But if my mind starts wandering or not depends on other factors and should be equally probable in both cases.