Are e-books or e-readers good technologies for reading?
Summary: There are key differences between screen media and print media, and these differences make books better than screens for reading, especially deep reading. But what about e-books? Are e-readers good technologies for reading too? Interestingly, although they’re technically screens, e-readers have features that imitate books. Consequently, e-readers are better than other types of screen media for reading, though perhaps not entirely as good as books.
In my two-part article on Screen vs. print media, I examined some of the key differences between screens and books. In general, books are better for reading, especially concentrated or deep reading, while screens are better for skimming, as well as interactive learning. However, what about e-books. Are these e-readers good technologies for reading?
Screen media vs. print media
In general, there are three characteristics that make the experience of reading books different from the experience of reading screens. These differences are lighting, haptics, and distractions.
Lighting
One difference between screen media and print media is the way our eyes interact with light. When we read screens, light comes through the screen, directly at our retinas. Since it’s difficult for our eyes to stare at direct light for long periods of time, we tend to scan screens, not focus on them.
Conversely, when we read print media like books, light reflects off the page before meeting our eyes. Unlike direct light, reflected light makes it more comfortable for our eyes to focus on printed pages. As a result, screens tend to facilitate visual scanning, while books tend to facilitate visual focus.
Haptics
Another difference between screens and books has to do with the haptics of these media. For example, book reading involves hand-eye coordination—grabbing the book, flipping through it pages, feeling its weight, etc. Coordinating visual focus with haptic feeling in this way has a unique cognitive effect. It puts our minds into a state of concentration, which helps us remember and recall what we read.
Screens entail a different haptic experience—searching for information, scrolling through content, zooming in and out of imagery, etc.—which doesn’t facilitate concentration or memory retention as well as book reading. Not surprisingly, readers who read screens, as opposed to books, often have a harder time recalling what they read (even if they remember how to look up that info later).
Accordingly, books work well for concentrating and remembering content, while screens work well for searching for information to find content quickly.
Distractions
Unlike print media, screen media may include built-in distractions, such as email, social media, or games. Those digital distractions can interrupt focus and concentration, making it difficult to reflect upon what we’re reading. To be fair, print media might have distractions too (for example, advertisements in magazines and newspapers). But, compared to digital distractions, they’re much fewer and easier to ignore.
The point is, the more digital distractions there are, the easier it is to get interrupted, and the harder it is to reflect on what you’re reading.
In sum, lighting, haptics, and the absence of digital distractions in traditional books make them ideal technologies for reading, especially deep reading (as opposed to mere skimming).
The in-between case of e-readers
Are e-books, e-periodicals, and other e-readers good technologies for reading, just like books? Or are e-readers more like digital screens, in which case they wouldn’t be an ideal medium for reading? As mentioned, the answer is a bit complicated—yet also quite interesting—because e-readers actually imitate traditional books in some ways, while resembling digital screens in other ways. To demonstrate why, let’s look at e-reader lighting, haptics, and distractions.
E-reader lighting
Unlike other types of digital screens, e-readers do not shine direct light at your eyes. Instead, e-readers reflect light, like printed pages in books. E-Readers are able to reflect light thanks to a technological innovation known as e-ink. Like regular ink on paper, e-ink does not emit direct light. Instead, e-ink reflects light, making it comfortable to focus on the screen for a long period of time.
Here’s how it works. E-ink looks similar to regular ink on the surface. Beneath that surface, it has both black and white particles enclosed within electrically charged microcapsules. When a positive or negative charge hits the microcapsules, the ink particles either rise (displaying white) or fall (displaying black).
Of course, e-readers may include a backlight option to light up the screen. This backlight option would make e-readers resemble digital screens more than traditional books, in which case they wouldn’t be as good for reading. So, if you plan use an e-reader, I’d advise against using the backlight, because lighting up the screen goes against the point of e-ink in the first place, which is to reflect light—not to shine it directly at the eyes—so the device reads like a book.
E-reader haptics
Even the most ardent book lovers must admit that e-readers are pretty nifty as mobile devices. About the same size as books, e-readers are portable and light in weight. Due to their compact size, e-readers are not only easy to read but also easy to handle. Indeed, holding and reading an e-reader is comparable to holding and reading a book in this sense.
- First, with e-readers, the haptic experience of gripping and turning pages is replaced by swiping or flipping pages.
- Second, e-readers lack the weight of the book and the ability to sense its thickness. While there may be a progress bar that gives visual feedback as to how far into a book you’ve read, the overall haptic experience of feeling the book is somewhat absent.
Therefore, it seems reasonable to say e-readers give almost (but not quite) the kind of haptic experience books provide.
E-reader distractions
One thing e-readers can do that books can’t is connect to WiFi, which enables distractions such as email notifications, social media apps, or online games. Obviously, these temptations for digital distractions can interrupt or interfere with the reading experience. Hence, I’d recommend disconnecting e-readers from the Internet, assuming the intention is to read.
Compared to books, are e-readers good technologies for reading?
In sum, e-readers imitate books pretty well when it comes to lighting (as long as you don’t turn on the backlight option). They imitate books more or less when it comes to haptics (though they lack the ability to feel the pages, thickness, and weight of a book). However, contrary to books, e-readers may let in digital distractions (unless you disconnect them from the Internet).
Thus, as long as you turn off the backlight and digital distractions, e-readers can provide similar reading experiences found in traditional books. (In truth, e-readers are almost a middle ground between screen and print—a sort of media via media, to pun the Latin expression.) Given all the subtle similarities and differences between e-readers and traditional books, a question remains. Should I use an e-reader instead of a traditional book? Well, here’s my advice…
Personally, I recommend using e-readers for light reading on the go, while using traditional books for more dense reading at home. For example, I would rather have a traditional book to read a long, complex story, such as James Joyce’s Ulysses. But if I want less complex reading—say, the news or a novella—because I’m traveling or have some spare time, an e-periodical or e-book should work just fine.
If you have any thoughts, advice, or recommendations about using e-readers versus books, feel free to share your ideas below. In addition, check out other Educational Topics related to screen vs. print on this site.