Curriculum

The Case for Choosing a Physical Book Over a Digital Reader

By Alyson Klein — April 25, 2023 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

If a student tells you they read a text—whether that’s a story featuring pajama-wearing llamas, a Shakespeare play, or a dystopian graphic novel—it is no longer a given that they held a physical book in their hands.

In fact, 30 percent of educators say their students spend at least 51 percent of their classroom reading time on a digital screen or device, according to a survey of 1,058 teachers, principals, and district leaders conducted by the EdWeek Research Center in January and February. And that percentage may well climb as devices become even more ubiquitous and print books scarcer.

But it’s important to remember that students get something from holding a paper book in their hands as they absorb a text, said Maryanne Wolfe, the director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

Physical books encourage “the development of deep reading processes,” including empathy and critical analysis, Wolfe said during an Education Week online forum this month.

On the other hand, while reading on a screen “what we actually tend to do is that we skim. We word spot. We browse. We scroll. And in that very act, even though it gives us more information, more quickly, it actually disadvantages the slower, deeper processing of language,” Wolfe said.

Devices like tablets and phones allow readers to navigate away from a text to check their social media, their email, or do a quick Google search. And that can distract from the act of reading, Wolfe said.

“The screen is very exciting, but in fact, it’s overexciting,” she said. Students who use it are “learning to be constantly distracted by novelty.”

To be sure, digital devices come with their own set of reading benefits. For instance, with digital readers, it’s a lot easier to offer students background information on a particular topic without intruding into the main text, Wolfe said. What’s more, it’s easier to adjust text features like font size to make a text more accessible for vision-impaired readers in a digital context.

“The digital medium has the ability to transform the texts in such a way that can be very happily used by different individuals,” Wolfe said.

And not all digital devices are created equal. For instance, an e-reader, like Amazon’s Kindle, is not as good as a physical book at encouraging deep reading, but research suggests it is a lot better than other kinds of devices. That’s because “you are restricting yourself from the 27 distractions per hour that our youth usually experience when they’re reading on their iPads or their laptops or their phones,” Wolfe said.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI in Education: Empowering Educators to Tap into the Promise and Steer Clear of Peril
Explore the transformative potential of AI in education and learn how to harness its power to improve student outcomes.
Content provided by Panorama Education
English Learners Webinar Family and Community Engagement: Best Practices for English Learners
Strengthening the bond between schools and families is key to the success of English learners. Learn how to enhance family engagement and support student achievement.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Mathematics Webinar
How an Inquiry-Based Approach Transforms Math Learning
Transform math learning with an approach that empowers students to become active, engaged learners.
Content provided by MIND Education

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Curriculum Opinion There’s a Better Way to Teach Digital Citizenship
Many popular resources for digital-citizenship education only focus on good online behavior. That’s a problem.
Alexandra Thrall & T. Philip Nichols
5 min read
digital citizenship computer phone 1271520062
solarseven/iStock/Getty
Curriculum Letter to the Editor Christian Nationalism vs. Spirituality in America’s Schools
A retired teacher responds to the Oklahoma state schools superintendent's guidance on teaching the Bible in public schools in the state.
1 min read
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week
Curriculum How Oklahoma's Superintendent Wants Schools to Teach the Bible
Oklahoma's state superintendent directed schools to teach the Bible and to place a copy in every classroom.
4 min read
A hand holding a magnifying glass hovers over a Bible opened to the Ten Commandments.
Marinela Malcheva/iStock/Getty
Curriculum Should the Bible Be Taught in Public Schools?
Are recent pushes to include the Bible about cultural literacy—or a pretext for politicians who want Christianity in public schools?
10 min read
bible lying on a school desk with a lesson plan and calendar
tamaw/E+