Paper-Minded, Digital-Minded Or Like-Minded?

The surge of popularity in digital print is one that has come around rapidly and is affecting our daily lives in more ways than one. The days of Filofaxes, paperback books and even paper receipts have been taken over by electronic devices, such as tablets, which have multiple functions.

As parents and/or teachers, knowing whether computer-based media is improving or compromising education is a question of concern. Research has indicated that students engage in different learning strategies that provide a short-cut to comprehension when using digital devices but not one which is long-lasting in comparison to paper.

Ziming Lu (2005) found that digital readers would engage in more shortcuts such as skimming for keywords and spend less time reading in general. Baron (2014) found that digital reading can also lead to distraction and multitasking. 92% of the students reported that it was easier to concentrate reading a hard copy, and 26% said that they would multi-task when reading paper, in comparison 85% who would multi-task when reading on screen.

Lab based experiments and consumer reports have indicated that modern readers (computer-based) and e-readers fail to recreate specific tactile experiences of reading on paper that many people miss. Reading on screen can also drain our mental resources which can compromise our memory for what we have just read. Therefore, the approach of selecting computers or tablets to learn may be less conducive to learning than the approach to paper.

Since at least the 1980’s the research question on which ‘form’ is best has been investigated by researchers, not only within the field of psychology but within computer engineering and information science field. Uncertainties remain about the influence of digital reading comprehension for adults and raise more unanswered questions about the academic implications. However, if you want your students to read an important article, the question is to print or not to print!