Are Paper Books Better Than Ebooks?

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Are Paper Books Better Than Ebooks?

You’re in the library with your parents. Which side do you prefer? The side with the computers and tablets for kids to read their ebooks, or the side with columns and columns filled with rows and rows of printed books, some with covers beaten with time, some with fresh, shimmering covers that reflect the rays of light in colorful waves? I suggest that you go to the printed book side for several good reasons. Printed books are much better than ebooks, for several good reasons. For one, paperback books can boost the retention of a reader. Second, the brightness of a tablet screen hurts your eyes, while printed books don’t emit such light. A study has found that infants learn more from hands-on/kinesthetic reading. Another study has found that ebooks can degrade our deep-reading skills. Furthermore, the light the ebooks emit can contribute to the ever-growing problem of visual fatigue, which is a condition “marked by tired, itching, burning eyes,” as stated from the CBS News report, Books vs. e-books: The science behind the best way to read.

Once again, the light than ebook can emit damages the eyes and contributes to visual fatigue. Dr. Margaret K. Merga, who is a reading and education specialist in Australia has said to the CBS News in an email, “Artificial light exposure from light-emitting e-readers may interfere with users’ ability to sleep, ultimately leading to adverse impacts on health.” A 2014 study that was published in the PNAS journal found that reading an ebook before going to bed left the production rate of melatonin dwindling. (Melatonin is the hormone that prepares the body for sleep.) Another factor would be that paper books can help with a reader’s retention.

Innumerable minor studies have found that reading on a paper book helps readers with their focus and retention. The Guardian has reported on an experiment based in Norway where people were given a short story on either a Kindle or in a paper book. Later on, when quizzed, the people who read the paper book version remembered the plot details better. “When you read on paper you can sense with your fingers a pile of pages on the left growing, and shrinking on the right,” said Anne Mangen, the leader researcher of Stavanger University (in Norway). “You have the tactile sense of progress... Perhaps this somehow aids the reader, providing more fixity and solidity to the reader’s sense of unfolding and progress of the text, and hence the story.” I imagine not everyone will agree with these valid points.

Hesitant readers growing up with ebooks have their own argument to pose. With the ever-growing need for technology, Kindles have a lot of promise for technology-lovers. Perhaps this also has something do with the fact that readers can adjust the settings to meet their preference, whereas on a paper book, the font size has already been determined. On top of that, ebooks conserve paper because they don’t have any paper. A 2014 study that was published in the Library & Information Science Research journal states that out of the 143 selected 10th grade students, most preferred ebooks. Others who did not care much for reading also said that they were supporters of ebooks rather than paper books. This evidence isn’t strong enough to build a firm, determined, unwavering argument. The reason why? “An e-reader has more in common with the electronic devices that young people use all the time, like smartphones or iPads, than a paper book, when it comes to turning of pages, the possibilities of adjusting font size, etc.,” said Åse Kristine Tveit, the lead author of the 2014 study. Adults and young book-lovers together have grown up reading paper books, so the transition to ebooks for them is difficult, especially with the adults, as they’ve grown used to turning pages.

Once again, reading on a flat screen that emits light can damage and degrade our deep reading skills. An article published by Jill Ferguson on September 13th 2016, titled “Research Shows Printed Books Are Better For Your Kids Than Ebooks” says, “Neuroscience has shown that reading on screen uses a different part of our brain, shifting our brains toward “non-linear reading” and may affect our deep reading skills. Deep reading is a term coined by Sven Birkerts in “The Gutenberg Elegies“ and it means to read in a thoughtful and deliberate manner that filters out distractions and becomes a form of deep thinking.” Heather Tomkowicz, a student at Hamilton College, has said in her essay that “Once, I used my mom's Kindle to read a book, and it simply was not the same as reading a real, physical, paper book. It just felt wrong. The books that I buy at the bookstore or borrow at the library have their own intimacy to them that is just impossible to achieve with an electronic device.” She continues with, “I can flip through the pages, trace the ink with my finger, crease the pages at the corners if I want. I can spill my coffee and write little notes in the margins and create a disaster of a beautiful book that I can look back on and remember that time I spilled the coffee or thought that certain line was breathtaking enough to underline in bright red pen. Books are escapes, certainly, but they are also memories. I can remember each book that has ever deeply impacted me; they all rest on my bookshelf, the covers worn and the pages soft from time. And if I want to go back and relive that memory or that escape, I can do it in a much more personal way than pulling it up on a screen.” Furthermore, Ziming Liu, a professor at San Jose State University and author of the book, “Paper to Digital: Documents in the Information Age,” found that when we read on a tablet or device, we spend less time reading and more time on browsing and scanning and are easily distracted by other aspects of the device. When we read on a book, we are more often than not attracted to the book and are more focused when reading.

I quite like paper books because it’s more “physical”, in the sense that we can actually see the pages turn and can turn the pages ourselves, whereas with a screen, you have to swipe, and sometimes, it doesn’t even go through, and you have to keep swiping over and over again. I like paper books because they don’t degrade deep-reading skills and since they allow the reader to be more focused on the text, the reader will have a better chance of being able to remember the plot of the story. And since we’re more involved with the book, we have a better sense of what’s going on in the story. You’re back in the library. Which side are you on?