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Michael Rosenwald writes in the WaPot that textbook makers, bookstore owners and college student surveys all say millennials still strongly prefer reading on paper for pleasure and learning, a bias that surprises reading experts given the same group’s proclivity to consume most other content digitally. “These are people who aren’t supposed to remember what it’s like to even smell books,” says Naomi S. Baron. “It’s quite astounding.” Earlier this month, Baron published “Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World,” a book that examines university students’ preferences for print and explains the science of why dead-tree versions are often superior to digital. Her conclusion: readers tend to skim on screens, distraction is inevitable and comprehension suffers. Researchers say readers remember the location of information simply by page and text layout — that, say, the key piece of dialogue was on that page early in the book with that one long paragraph and a smudge on the corner. Researchers think this plays a key role in comprehension - something that is more difficult on screens, primarily because the time we devote to reading online is usually spent scanning and skimming, with few places (or little time) for mental markers.
Another significant problem, especially for college students, is distraction. The lives of millennials are increasingly lived on screens. In her surveys, Baron writes that she found “jaw-dropping” results to the question of whether students were more likely to multitask in hard copy (1 percent) vs. reading on-screen (90 percent). "The explanation is hardly rocket science," says Baron. "When a digital device has an Internet connection, it’s hard to resist the temptation to jump ship: I’ll just respond to that text I heard come in, check the headlines, order those boots that are on sale." “You just get so distracted,” one student says. “It’s like if I finish a paragraph, I’ll go on Tumblr, and then three hours later you’re still not done with reading.”
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 25 2015, @08:20PM
Paper does not emit light. Most e-readers do. Looking at light is subtlety painful. Worse, most websites have standardized on white backgrounds. A white background would be fine on an e-ink display, but on a display that emits light, that causes subtle pain. Hence why dead trees are more comfortable. We spend enough time as it is during the day looking at light from monitors. We need to rest by looking at something that is not emitting light directly into our eyes. Also, stress interferes with learning. So for recreation and learning, e-readers need passive displays.
Color e-ink may never look as good as displays that emit light simply because when you emit light, you control the color temperature. With e-ink, the color will change if you bring it between warm incandescent lighting (2700k) and more natural daylight (6000k). But that is how print works, so it should be an acceptable compromise if it is comfort that you are looking for.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by VLM on Wednesday February 25 2015, @09:21PM
Sure AC, just like TV. Nobody watches TV. TV doesn't emit light, it only emits dumbness waves (tm) or something harmless like that.
Also I'm kinda mystified from a physics and biological perspective how a light photon magically knows it was reflected and not generated or whatever. Good luck with that. So I could stare into a laser reflected from a mirror and that would be OK, but not looking directly into the laser.
I donno AC. The old site /. was crawling with crazy e-ink astroturfer trolls, it was beyond ridiculous, to the point of comedy, so I'm going to mod you funny.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Wednesday February 25 2015, @10:13PM
Speaking of biological perspective, if I'm reading a glowing screen in bed at night, I have troubles falling asleep (yes, I'm a fussy sleeper too, e.g. can't sleep well if not in cotton sheets).
Seems [bbc.com] to have something to do with the light spectrum of those photons and the melatonin levels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Insightful) by hendrikboom on Wednesday February 25 2015, @10:27PM
The photon doesn't know (well, maybe there's some quantum superposition going on), but there's the matter of contrast between the page and the ambient illumination. Your eyes have to work to accommodate both, and I suspect they're not that great at doing it. There's also the question of flicker, which can be tiring even if you don't explicitly notice it.
And with e-ink there's no difficulty reading in bright sunlight.
-- hendrik
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 25 2015, @10:41PM
The intensity of light making it inside your eyeball is very different, for one. Your eyes see relative differences. Not absolutes. Even color is relative. Look up color illusions.
If you want to understand the biological perspective, look at what 60 nm light does to your melatonin levels and your brain's regulation.
Do you want to rate this funny too?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 26 2015, @01:15AM
460 nm, not 60 nm. Sorry for the copy and paste mistake.
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Thursday February 26 2015, @01:15AM
If nm is nanometers, 60 nm is smack in the middle of extreme UV [wikipedia.org], strongly absorbed by tissue (unlike X) and ionizing radiation. Be expose to that and your melatonin level is the last of your problems (if nm is nautical miles, on the other hand, that's about 2700 Hz, I guess your melatonin level is as safe as it gets)
On the other hand, while 600 nm (yellow) has an influence on the melatonin suppression, studies (8 pg PDF) [jneurosci.org] suggest that the wavelength with the greatest impact is around (blue) 450-460 nm (see page 5 figure 5).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday February 25 2015, @10:40PM
(Dang, VLM beat me to it. Go ahead, mod me redundant)
> We need to rest by looking at something that is not emitting light directly into our eyes.
and I need the government to keep its hands off my medicare!
(Score: 2) by bart9h on Thursday February 26 2015, @05:44PM
OLED, man.
I love reading on my phone, because I can set the brightness level so low I can barely read even in a pitch dark room.
Combine that with white text on black background, considering that OLED's black is *really* black, and you have a perfect device to read at bed without bothering your S.O.