DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

How We Read & Why We Read

 

I believe that there are two types of readers: there are those who read for information and those who read for enjoyment. This means that there are two types of ways students read The New York Times: either for information, or for enjoyment. . It can be read either in print hard-copy, or in digital formats. 

 

Which is better: print or digital? A question that’s been discussed in my classroom this quarter. There isn’t any one answer to that question. Every reader of The New York Times is reading it for different reasons, and so the forms in which they read it will vary. Someone like my teacher, who reads it out of enjoyment, intellectual curiousity, and tradition is more likely to read it in the print form. Whereas someone like myself, a student, who reads it as an assignment is more likely to use the digital format. 


On the surface, it seems like the same information comes out of both print and digital—they both show the same stories after all. But I wonder if someone who reads something in digital format gets the same message from the article as someone who reads it in the print. There are major differences between reading it digitally and reading it in print format. Digital is more efficient, easier to navigate and readers can choose exactly what they want to read. Print is relaxed, time consuming and readers read whatever they come across. 

 

The digital form of reading The New York Times has so many advantages for students that I would be surprised if any of them read only the print form. In the digital format students are able to search for articles in The New York Times that relate to their classes. On The New York Times website students can search for articles from years back, it’s unlikely that they are able to do that with the print version unless they have a massive stack of newspapers sitting at home.

 

On the other hand, the print format has so many advantages to people who actually want to enjoy their experience. When you read The New York Times online there are thousands of other things happening also: email, Facebook or iTunes might pop up while your reading and disrupt you from the article. With print that problem doesn’t exist. Print is solely the reader and the story. If you are reading just for the purpose of reading, then I would say print is a much better option.

 

My point is that there are so many different reasons people are reading The New York Times, and because of that, there is no right or wrong way to read it. Whichever way is preferred by the reader is going to be the better way for that reader. Of course there are scenarios where one is more appropriate than the other, for instance reading The New York Times on the go is probably easier to do on your phone, wheras reading at the coffee shop is a time for the print copy.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.