Reading literature in print improves comprehension. Courtesy | Sophia Mandt
Hillsdale students do much of their reading for courses online, even as a new study shows that reading comprehension is better with printed material than with screens.
“If a student spends ten hours reading books on paper, their comprehension will probably be six to eight times greater than if they read on digital devices for the same amount of time,” according to University of Valencia professors Cristina Vargos and Ladislao Salmeron, who oversaw the study of more than 450,000 people.
Benjamin Beier, chairman and associate professor of education, said that screens habituate us to be surface level with the tasks we use them for.
“There’s a certain sort of gravity or dignity of the physical book that disposes us to enter into it in a different way,” Beier said.
Freshman Robert Keeton said that the results of the study are unsurprising.
“When you think of a smart person that reads a bunch, you typically don’t think of them pulling out their computer,” Keeton said.
Keeton said he reads around 15 hours a week and does most of his reading digitally if he wants quick access to information.
“If I’m going to sit down and read something just for the sake of reading it, I prefer it in print,” Keeton said.
Freshman Elena Sickau said she reads around four hours each week and also does most of her reading digitally, but she said she finds reading in print more relaxing.
Freshman Madde Axe said she reads between one to two hours a day.
“The only reading I do digitally is typically on social media,” Axe said.
Axe said she finds it much easier to get distracted when reading digitally versus in print. She also said her eyes get tired when reading digitally, which doesn’t happen when she reads physical books.
Beier said he hoped that the study would get the attention of educators and school districts who might be ignoring the downsides of electronic technology.
“I find myself less distracted and more engaged — I’m a more active reader when I’m offscreen and have a book,” he said.
He said there is something special about a physical book.
“I think it’s nice to have a bodily, human, incarnate experience of this thing that actually has weight in your hands,” he said.
