Reading Print vs. On-Screen. (How you’re losing results)

If you’re planning your next read and you’re not sure wether to do so on an electronic screen, or grab the printed version. Hearing this out may have you leaning towards one side over the other.

 CHECK. IT. OUT.

Coming from personal experience, when I read a printed book I find myself in different ambiences doing so. It may be in the sauna after a good work out, after hiking a trail to its peak with a view, or in my charming home. When time is set aside to reading, it’s hard to become distracted with the book in hand. A book only does one thing! It can’t do a million things like a phone can. That HAS to help your focus. It helps mine. Thus more focus directed to reading, well wouldn’t it make sense that you are able to retain more information? Let’s see what some research points out.

In Print.

In research conducted by Naomi S. Baron with over 400 university students from five different countries, she found 92% said it was easier to concentrate when reading in print. Talk about a percentage! It’s funny that she also found people said they like the smell of a book! Now that I think about it, books do have a distinct smell. Paper comes from trees and trees give off oxygen. Hm, hm. Woah… MIND BLOWN YET? I’d like to see a study as to wether that theory could have any backbone. Her article also brings out that students could feel their place in the book. Does that not give you a sense of accomplishment when you’re halfway there? It’s like a hike, and you take a break and look out into the view and see how far you’ve come. Then when you’re through the book, what a milestone! Celebrate yourself. Wether you’ve always been a reader, or you just began picking up books. Many people can start a project, but not many can finish one. Another benefit is in this world ran by screens, it’s nice to have a break away from them. Hey! You can print out this article and take it to read on the go. On that note, lets head into our next topic…

Pros of Print:

• Heightened Concentration
• Sense of Place
• Improved Retention
• Smell of Paper LOL

On Screen.

Digital reading can be more convenient, and cost effective. Yet is the cost worth it? You’re reading this online now, and many articles point out that on screen leads to more skimming.

In bold, because are you guilty of skimming?

Well, no need to be ashamed of the guilt, there’s nothing wrong with skimming. In fact many web articles are designed to be skimmed with the knowledge that you will be doing so! Often when we look for information online we just desire to get to the point. Nothing wrong with that, we seek immediate answers. You may have gone directly to looking at the pros & and cons list, and that’s why it’s there. The caveat is it happens when reading an eBook as well. A book can consist of many hours, so the amount of time you spend looking at a screen can have consequences that we are not particularly fond of. In an article from Classic Vision Care they call it the “Screen Effect” where and I quote “Computer vision syndrome is a catchall term for a number of problems that stem from too much time in front of a screen. If you spend hours a day staring at tiny pixels, your eyes strain from the effort, which can lead to headaches, blurry vision, dry eyes, and neck and shoulder pain.

After an hour of reading, you may walk away feeling drained. This can affect how much you actually read too, because then negative feelings begin to surround reading and on an extreme extent you may choose to not read at all, or now you may seek numbing substances just to counteract those negative feelings.

Man! I’m feeling drained just making this post starring at the screen. So i’ll finish it on an extremely biased note where I only brought out the pros of one side and only pointed to the cons of another side. Hahaaa…

Cons of On-Screen:

• Dstraction
• Eye Strain
• Scanning information

Stay sharp, stay strong, Entelechy!