It’s been a full productive day. I worked, made dinner, finished Yellowstone (DVR’d it from Sunday night), folded laundry, logged on and did more work, got coffee ready for tomorrow and started the dishwasher.
Now. A blog post for my Nano Poblano challenge. Day 14! It’s 10:30pm and I still have time. But WHAT to write about?
I got my tea, glasses, phone, laptop, settled in on the couch to face this never-ending dilemma that keeps me from blogging regularly though I’ve been at this 10 years. I then did what most writers do. Opened Facebook.
In one of my bookish groups there was a meme of a father with his kids on what looked like a subway train and they were all reading books. Not staring at their phones, reading paper books. I’ve seen this meme before and love it.
And in the comments there was a mention that you can read books on your phone, in other words, the vehicle doesn’t matter. Very true.
And then there it was. Someone else followed up with this link.
Evidence increases for reading on paper instead of screens.
This article from 2019 sums up what my husband and I have always talked and agreed about. As much time as we spend on our phones and tablets, if we are really trying to research, learn, RETAIN something, it has to come from a good, old fashioned book.
I love my Kindle and can happily spin through fiction books. But if I’m reading a topic that I want/need to learn about, one that I’ll likely refer back to, it must be paper. I will often order a paper copy of a book I’ve already read on my Kindle, just to have it for reference. To me, it’s easier to find passages or certain chapters in a paper book, even though I know e-readers have the ability to bookmark or underline content.
There are some interesting theories in this article as to why this is, from screen readers to glare to the speed at which someone reads. I summed up my own personal preference to the fact I spent all of my educational years with paper books, there were no electronic copies of anything in high school and college. Paper books are what I was used to. But, as this article shows, there is still a preference today for paper in younger learners.
What say you? This goes a bit beyond the paper book vs. Kindle discussion that comes up frequently. When studying a topic, what do you prefer for comprehension and retention?
I love holding an actual book in my hands, and I find it much easier to turn back to look up something I’ve forgotten or missed. And I love having actual books around the house to pick up, browse through, maybe even re-read. But as for which media is better for retention, I think it depends on what type of a learner you are (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc.).
Agreed.. I love them both for different reasons.. Best of both worlds!