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Print vs. Digital: In Our Schools

          Learning to read is a rite of passage. For every six year old an entire new world opens, endless possibilities become their new reality. Taking a set of strange symbols and giving them sounds and meaning is not natural, but a gift we have developed and passed down from generation to generation. Today, that process is in jeopardy. For the past few years the argument of print versus digital has been tossed around, both showing advantages and disadvantages. As eBooks and tablets grow and the market expands, a new potential audience has emerged for digital reading- children.
          As the internet and tablets become the new standard for gathering information and reading, it is important to address the potential pitfalls in the technological world. While more comprehensive studies have been done on adults reading on screens, there is still limited knowledge of the effects on kids. The difference here being, kids are just beginning to learn to read, while adults have had years of practice, primarily on print. Studies have shown that reading on screens alters habits, hinders reading, and ultimately changes the experience.
           Reading is a habit. You are training your brain to perform a certain task. In a New York Times article, Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading? Neurologists suggest that, “learning to read changes the brain’s circuitry. Scientists speculate that reading on the Internet may also affect the brain’s hard wiring in a way that is different from book reading.” This new wiring may not serve the same function as the wiring gained from reading print. Reading is not something natural; it’s something we all have to work for. Screens allow us to bypass this step. Creating a space where a sentence or two will suffice for an entire story. That need to constantly be feed with new material doesn't translate into reading a classic 600 page novel. Instead, we wait impatiently for the story to unfold, only to give up three chapters in.

           This hyperactive reading is now natural to the new, young digital reader whose eyes glaze over the bright screen. Children’s eBooks offer many new bells and whistles, giving kids instant gratification after they read a sentence: an animation appears, or sounds are added. This results in a shortened attention span, which will not only affect reading, but all learning. In a study done by Andrew Dillon, he finds that when reading on a screen people read at a noticeably slower rate. Slowing down ones reading should be a good thing, you’re taking your time, gathering more information. On the contrary, people are actually taking away less. A decline in reading comprehension test scores is yet another red flag in the switch from print to digital.

          There is something about feeling things. Touch is a sense that gets overlooked when thinking of reading. The difference between the two can easily be experienced when comparing a letter to an E-mail. Both might be a sweet message from a loved one, but holding a letter has a stronger impact; each word innately holds more weight. Like in everything else there is an aversion to change. We grew up on books, and we want our kids to have the same experience. To feel the crisp paper between their fingers, and hear the crinkle as they turn the page of their favorite book. Reading is more than just a task, it’s an experience.
           Reading is a path to knowledge, it is important that we are providing our kids with the best tools, even if they are centuries old. As I skimmed through countless articles on literacy it dawned on me that this is not the first time the medium used for reading has changed. Before books we were reading on scrolls, stones, and walls, which makes you wonder if it is only natural for the next generation to adapt to the new reading technology- the screen.



                                              Work Cited
Bauerlein, Mark. "Screen Reading and Print Reading."Chronicle 21 10              2009.Web.Apr. 2013.

 

Dillon, A. (1992) Reading from paper versus screens: a critical review of the empirical literature. Ergonomics, 35(10), 1297-1326.

Rich, Motoko. "Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?." New York Times 27 07 2008, n. pag. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.

Ogg, Erica. "How Apple is Replacing Macs with iPads at school." Gigaom. (2012): n. page. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.