
Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens - GuiA
https://theconversation.com/children-prefer-to-read-books-on-paper-rather-than-screens-74171
======
gnicholas
This article significantly misrepresents the study. It says that children
prefer to read on paper than on devices, which indicates that children were
asked about their preferences, or asked about habits that are likely to reveal
their preferences. This is not the case.

Subjects were never asked which they liked better, and the underlying research
report clearly indicates that the differences in their behavior between
reading on screen and on paper could be due to their lack of awareness of
where to get free ebooks.

Since kids don't have credit cards, they wouldn't be able to buy Kindle books,
and might not even have an account. So looking at observational data about
what kids use to read books is not a good way to determine what kids "prefer"
in this instance. You'd have to give kids the same books in paper and on
digital and then see which one they end up reading.

The underlying research is fine, and appropriately nuanced. The article
describing it is misleading clickbait.

~~~
pharrington
The research's starting point is literally treating _all iPads and all Kindles
as the same device_. It is not appropriately nuanced.

~~~
aaron695
Both the article and the research is a giant cliché.

Neither seems to have a basic understanding of either technology or even
perceptions of technology.

>Challenging the assumption that all young people prefer to read on screens

Who believes this? They don't seem to source this claim. It's seems like
academic karma whoring. State people believe something they don't actually
believe, disprove it so you get karma.

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chromalife
I prefer having a physical book. Flicking through pages to reread sections,
highlighting and margin notes are not yet seamless with the reading app I'm
using.

But Getting a tablet has increased the amount I'm reading by at least a factor
of 4. It is now so easy to buy books after reading a recommendation online.
The free sample feature makes it so I don't buy a book I won't like, And the
built in dictionary has me looking up new words without pausing my reading
flow.

Physical is great but I don't think I'll ever go back for reading fiction.
Having said all that my kids will be getting physical books. The distractions
in electronic devices is something I'm still struggling with.

~~~
jobu
> _Having said all that my kids will be getting physical books. The
> distractions in electronic devices is something I 'm still struggling_

Having four kids myself, I would never have tried to start them reading on a
device. Kids don't start reading novels or textbooks, they have books that are
physically interactive in a way that doesn't translate very well to a screen.
Starting out, children learn by touch and taste as much as with ears or eyes.

Even at ages four to six, many kids need a physical or tactile element to help
them learn. My youngest used to love turning the pages back and forth to talk
about the differences in the characters of Dr Seuss books like Go Dog Go. The
physical interaction of turning a page to demonstrate progression of time in a
story is something that doesn't seem to translate as well when swiping or
tapping in a tablet.

~~~
soperj
Dude. P.D Eastman.

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overcast
While I still use my Kindle for travel, I've actually purchased more hardcover
books SINCE I got a Kindle, then I have at any other point in my life. Using
the Kindle, just gave me even more appreciation for the experience of holding
a book, flipping the pages, the smell, that whole tactile experience that is
just missing otherwise.

I'm also making a serious attempt to distance myself from technology for at
least part of the day. Smartphones have essentially taking over my life, and
I'm actively removing myself from that as well.

~~~
emodendroket
I have the opposite experience. I read a lot on the train and I read a lot of
books on the Kindle I probably would have avoided before because they seemed
so large that I didn't want to carry them or they just seemed imposing. I also
find reading for extended periods on the Kindle far more comfortable. The only
thing I don't prefer it for is books where I know I'll be flipping back and
forth a lot (textbooks, reference manuals, etc.).

~~~
overcast
Again, for the travel convenience, the Kindle is great. I fortunately do not
spend long periods of time on a train. My reading is at home, in silence.

~~~
libria
Even at home, I prefer the ergonomics of holding a pad that's flat open.
Paperbacks - new ones especially - require pressure to keep open, usually a
thumb/pinky grip. Often the words nearer the spine are read at an angle and
with less light. Kindle is more evenly lit and more comfortable to hold.

As mentioned above, it's great for linear reading e.g. fiction; poor for
computer books.

~~~
problems
In my experience desktop PDF readers are better than paper for technical books
- maybe there are good tablet readers for them too, but they'll allow you to
jump directly to sections and make bookmarks in an instant rather than
searching through random physical pages and holding your finger in different
spots. Displaying the full tree of the book's index while you read through
interesting sections is incredibly valuable.

I find it hard to read any technical book on something other than the computer
I'm using it on though. Without being able to copy and paste to try things out
on my own I tend to learn absolutely nothing.

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Johnny555
Until I got a Kindle Voyage, I found the Kindle reading experience to be
subpar to books (but still more convenient in most cases). But with the higher
resolution of the Voyage (300ppi), better backlight, and most importantly,
buttons to move forward/back instead of swiping, I now prefer the Voyage over
paper books.

Much easier to read one-handed on the train, and having a good backlight makes
for convenient reading at night (with the screen brightness turned down enough
that it doesn't bother my partner). I've pretty much stopped buying paper
books now, while with my old kindle, I'd alternate between paper and digital
books.

~~~
jobu
What is the color like for the Voyage backlight? Lately I've been using my
iPhone in night-shift mode as a reading light with paper books.

It may just be psychological, but I do seem to fall asleep easier than I did
with a regular white LED reading light. At the very least I haven't found
myself still reading at 3am wondering why I'm still awake.

~~~
alpaca128
It's not just psychological. According to some measurements the cold light
from screens, neon lights, white LEDs etc. causes an increased heart rate,
making it more difficult to fall asleep.

The Voyage is supposed to have a warmer backlight mode, but I only have
experience with the Paperwhite(I only read during the day anyways).

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chad-autry
Study seems to exclude e-ink, (when grouping kindle with iPad, I assume they
mean the android tablet) while many of the comments here are arguing about
e-ink vs books.

I'm not surprised by the study. My 2.5 year old would much rather watch
something if the tablet is available than read. Even the interactive and
pictures + audio books aren't much competition.

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koolba
It's anecdata, but I know I much prefer a physical book to a digital one. Even
more so for documents (not source code) that I'm reviewing.

~~~
rpeden
I think that in some cases, it can even be helpful for source code.

There have been a couple of times where I wanted to understand how an
interesting library or bit of code worked, so I printed the code out and made
notes right on the page as I read through it.

I'm sure I could have accomplished the same thing digitally - but for some
reason, the knowledge seems to 'stick' more quickly when I'm writing out the
notes physically on the same page as the code.

IIRC, one of the developers in 'Coders at Work' liked to print out code he was
working on to help him develop an understanding of it. I think it was Josh
Bloch, but it's been a while since I've read the book.

All of this is also anecdotal, but I think it's worth a try for anyone who
hasn't. It might be useless for most people, but I believe in experimenting
with different ways of absorbing information to find out what works best with
your brain.

~~~
sevensor
> There have been a couple of times where I wanted to understand how an
> interesting library or bit of code worked, so I printed the code out and
> made notes right on the page as I read through it.

I do this as well, although I usually get a page or two in, figure out what
the code does, and regret printing out the rest. Still worth doing, but I need
to train myself to waste less paper.

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sizzzzlerz
Ebooks are fine for quick referrals but I simply can't stand using them for
sustained reading. If I'm engrossed in reading a paper book, I'll knock off a
hundred pages without noticing the time. I try to do that on my iPad or a
computer monitor and I'm edgy and disinterested in just a handful of pages.

~~~
emodendroket
The Kindle really is way, way better for extended reading.

~~~
colmvp
Yeah, I recognize the valid criticisms of the Kindle, specifically it doesn't
feel as nice as reading a paper book, but the ability to control brightness
and font-size, alongside the super light weight of the Kindle makes for some
very easy extended reading.

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mmanfrin
I cannot read longer books unless I'm reading on an ereader. Normal books are
fine in paper or ebook, but if a book is >500 pages, I psych myself out when
trying to read (and also find it unwieldy to read on public transit when I
dont have a seat).

The other bit that I could not live without now is the time-left-in-chapter
estimator. It's so much easier for me to get squirreled away for hours because
I'll end a chapter and see the next one is only 12 minutes... repeat x 10.

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SomeStupidPoint
I have a number of ebooks and PDFs, mostly references. I have a number of the
reference books as _both_ ebooks and paper books.

I just... Don't have the freedom with digital copies of things that I do with
paper ones, and I refuse to have key knowledge DRM'd. Papers on PDF are
alright (as in, I only print _really_ important ones), but proprietary ebooks?

Im not trusting my only copy of professional knowledge to the people who
silently removed copies of 1984. That would be insane.

~~~
problems
Definitely, but there's plenty of ways to obtain legitimately without DRM,
obtain legitimately and strip DRM or just straight up pirate books.

And the advantages from that point are excellent. I can read the same thing on
my phone, e-reader or desktop, so it's a very fluid experience whatever I'm
doing.

------
stinkytaco
I've just finished doing quite a bit of reading and research on this since
e-books are big responsibility of mine as a librarian. The data seems to point
to most people not having a really strong preference. There are a small
percentage of people (less that 10%) that prefer ebooks and a larger
percentage (30%+) that prefer physical books, but most people's preference is
either complicated (they prefer one for a specific use case such as travel or
technical books) or not that strong. We are looking to shift to a fulfillment
model, which reduces collection crossover some. Most people just want to read
their book and will take it however they can get it soonest. For what it's
worth, I expect our ebook circulation to top out at about 30-35%, which is
about where estimates of the commercial market are. Those estimates are
complicated by Amazon's holding Kindle Direct numbers close the chest, which
are probably fairly large.

~~~
petra
Does your literature review only takes into account e-ink kindles ? because a
lot of the research literature disregards the uniqueness of the kindle.

~~~
stinkytaco
It's more general to "ebooks". FWIW, Kindle's make up a plurality of our
e-book circulation, but we don't know the ratio of black and white to tablets.
Anecdotally, we see a fair amount of Fire Tablets, but that could just be
because people using Fire Tablets need more help. The survey I'm referencing
(along with some other supporting data) is Pew, so take that for what it's
worth.

------
neom
I think that the quality of intake of information is somewhat different when
it comes to projected light vs reflected light. I think that with dyslexia
printed words are slightly easier because it's easier to see the edge of the
ink (so you can see the shape better), on a screen it's much harder to see the
shapes in the letters. The dyslexia font thing helps a little but it's kinda
gimmicky I think.¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

~~~
alpaca128
> I think that with dyslexia printed words are slightly easier because it's
> easier to see the edge of the ink

What e-book reader have you tried? The more expensive Kindles have a high
resolution, on my Paperwhite the edges of the letters are very sharp just like
in a printed book or magazine, no matter how close I hold it to my face.
Combined with the right backlight setting and some daylight it really looks
like a printed page to me.

------
pharrington
Well yeah; since right now kids are still human beings, the animal is just
going to be far more receptive to staring at broad spectrum light than narrow
spectrum light. That's before accounting for what we already know about human
children needing way more tactile stimulation than adults.

Of course, 10 years from now when we've started optimizing our genetically
engineered offspring for staring into the black mirror, all bets are off.

------
anotherevan
Some anecdotes:

I (late 40s) love my eink ereader (a Kobo Aura HD) when reading for pleasure.
I also use it for reading a lot of web-page articles away from the computer
(via it’s pocket integration). I’ve read 205 books in the last three years[1]
and I would say less than five were physical books.

On the other hand, almost all those books were fiction, read for pleasure. I
would never read that amount on a tablet screen or any similar screen that
emits its own light.

I also find for technical topics, especially if they involve lots of diagrams
or tables, I prefer physical over electronic because the ability to navigate
around and annotate is so much faster and superior.

§

My kids, who are now in the teens and both avid readers, prefer physical books
over electronic almost exclusively. They are willing to wait weeks to get hold
of a physical version of an eagerly anticipated tome rather than get the
electronic version immediately.

The only time my daughter uses an eink reader is when something she really
wants to read is only being published electronically, never physically. I have
tried to get her interested in a few books or series I think she would like,
but with the rare exception was unsuccessful unless I could provide a physical
version of the book.

§

At the opposite end, my dad (late 70s) who while not quite a luddite is far
from a digital native, has expressed interest in getting an ebook reader
primarily because he can then change the text to a comfortable size for his
failing eyesight.

[1]
[http://www.michevan.id.au/tag/books/](http://www.michevan.id.au/tag/books/)

------
ilamont
I'm an indie publisher of utility nonfiction (i.e. how-to guides). Close to
90% of online unit sales are print. This number has actually risen in recent
years as print has grown and ebook sales have remained flat or declined. There
are lots of theories floating around on why this is so, but I have to say that
Google and Apple have really dropped the ball while Amazon continues to blaze
forward on many product and service fronts. For example: at one time the iPad
ebook experience was vastly superior to the original Kindle, now with the
Kindle Fire and Paperwhite (not to mention the Kindle iOS app) Amazon is in
front.

For an analysis of trends in the industry check out the Author Earnings
reports here: [http://authorearnings.com/](http://authorearnings.com/)

------
erickhill
We bought Kindles for both of my kids, as they expressed a sincere interest.
Today, those devices collect a lot of dust. I can't put my finger on why. With
my son (7), I do know he seems to really enjoy books that include pictures
scattered throughout the text (e.g. Geronimo Stilton). For my daughter (9),
who reads very thick paper books typically in series, I really don't know - so
has a huge reading appetite and reads every chance she can get. It may be she
has much easier access to paper versions. She almost never has to ask us to
buy her a book as she can just go pick one up.

I should ask her. I do sometimes wonder if there is a bit of subliminal
affection for the covers of books, too, to reinforce one's personal identity,
which you never get with a black mirror.

------
Gonzih
I feel that whenever I have book that Im reading on kindle it's much harder
for me to pick it up and continue reading after couple of days.

------
jlarocco
Considering just the reading experience, I prefer physical books, too.

But there's more to consider, and eBooks are better and more convenient in
every user case that I have.

I still buy a lot of physical books, but only from used book stores, and only
when there's unlikely to ever be an eBook. If I'm buying a new book, it's
going to be digital. The only exception is for outdoor guide books.

------
TWAndrews
This is definitely true for my 7 year old daughter. She's an avid reader, but
even when I buy a book she is very interested in reading (typically the next
in a current series) on a Kindle rather than getting her a hard copy, she'll
end up reading something else.

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holydude
I prefer physical books for reading fiction and eink / display for tech books.

~~~
devty
Fascinating - I am the exact opposite! I've found that for reading fictions -
a narrative that mostly move forward - the limition of eink displays in freely
flipping between pages to be less annoying.

~~~
panzagl
Same here, especially since fiction rarely has diagrams or maps.

~~~
plopz
I find myself constantly flipping back to the maps at the beginning of most
fantasy novels.

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jasonkostempski
Adults too.

~~~
flippyhead
I know this seems a common sentiment here, but I just don't get it. There is
almost nothing better about a physical book vs. a Kindle, especially on the
high-eng (e.g the Voyage). Whenever I've discussed this with people the only
reason I seem to get is some vague sense of nostalgia.

~~~
bonaldi
\- Random access.

\- Non-random access: we are surprisingly good at knowing where in a book
something we read was, and flipping back to it. While keeping our finger in
the place or places we were. You can build a working stack of locations in
paper that's a pain to do in every e-reader I've tried.

\- Notes/Marginalia/Markup are available on both, but with vastly more
expressiveness and options on paper (though without search)

\- Share/re-share/bequeath

\- Some evidence of better comprehension and retention of physical reading vs
screens.

\- No batteries required.

\- Attractive physical objects can be a pleasure to own (and a pain in the ass
when moving house)

~~~
lmm
> Notes/Marginalia/Markup are available on both, but with vastly more
> expressiveness and options on paper

I wouldn't want to annotate or highlight a paper book - that feels like
damaging it.

> No batteries required.

Not really an issue for a Kindle-like device - it lasts about 30 days without
a charge, which is long enough to read more books than I'd care to carry on a
no-electricity trip.

~~~
qntty
>I wouldn't want to annotate or highlight a paper book - that feels like
damaging it.

Don't do it with library books obviously, but if you own the book, try it. It
vastly improved my reading experience when I started annotating.

------
vivekd
paper books are better for children I think because they need a lot of
pictures, and e-readers really haven't gotten up to that level. Also, I think
it's good for children to have physical books to hold and interact with that
allow for no distractions.

As an adult though, I much prefer ebooks, it's more portable and convenient. I
do almost all of my reading on e-readers now.

------
mercurysmessage
I prefer to read on my kindle. More convenient and can be used at night
(paperwhite). I like to read, be it a paper book or an ebook. I don't see why
the whole ebooks vs. paper is a thing, at all.

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mrcactu5
you can't write on a computer screen -- even with touch screens it's rather
clumsy.

books took several thousand years to evolve.... give them some credit.

~~~
NoGravitas
Some of us don't write in books, either...

------
khc
Children also prefer to eat fries and chips

------
smonff
A barely twenty years old technology is not gonna take over a five hundred old
refined one.

