computer vs books essay

April 11, 2013

15 min read

The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens

E-readers and tablets are becoming more popular as such technologies improve, but research suggests that reading on paper still boasts unique advantages

By Ferris Jabr

Getty Images

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing . By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

In a viral YouTube video from October 2011 a one-year-old girl sweeps her fingers across an iPad's touchscreen, shuffling groups of icons. In the following scenes she appears to pinch, swipe and prod the pages of paper magazines as though they too were screens. When nothing happens, she pushes against her leg, confirming that her finger works just fine—or so a title card would have us believe. The girl's father, Jean-Louis Constanza , presents "A Magazine Is an iPad That Does Not Work" as naturalistic observation—a Jane Goodall among the chimps moment—that reveals a generational transition. "Technology codes our minds," he writes in the video's description. "Magazines are now useless and impossible to understand, for digital natives"—that is, for people who have been interacting with digital technologies from a very early age. Perhaps his daughter really did expect the paper magazines to respond the same way an iPad would. Or maybe she had no expectations at all—maybe she just wanted to touch the magazines. Babies touch everything . Young children who have never seen a tablet like the iPad or an e-reader like the Kindle will still reach out and run their fingers across the pages of a paper book; they will jab at an illustration they like; heck, they will even taste the corner of a book. Today's so-called digital natives still interact with a mix of paper magazines and books, as well as tablets, smartphones and e-readers; using one kind of technology does not preclude them from understanding another. Nevertheless, the video brings into focus an important question: How exactly does the technology we use to read change the way we read? How reading on screens differs from reading on paper is relevant not just to the youngest among us , but to just about everyone who reads—to anyone who routinely switches between working long hours in front of a computer at the office and leisurely reading paper magazines and books at home; to people who have embraced e-readers for their convenience and portability, but admit that for some reason they still prefer reading on paper; and to those who have already vowed to forgo tree pulp entirely. As digital texts and technologies become more prevalent, we gain new and more mobile ways of reading—but are we still reading as attentively and thoroughly? How do our brains respond differently to onscreen text than to words on paper? Should we be worried about dividing our attention between pixels and ink or is the validity of such concerns paper-thin? Since at least the 1980s researchers in many different fields—including psychology, computer engineering, and library and information science—have investigated such questions in more than one hundred published studies. The matter is by no means settled. Before 1992 most studies concluded that people read slower, less accurately and less comprehensively on screens than on paper. Studies published since the early 1990s , however, have produced more inconsistent results: a slight majority has confirmed earlier conclusions, but almost as many have found few significant differences in reading speed or comprehension between paper and screens. And recent surveys suggest that although most people still prefer paper—especially when reading intensively—attitudes are changing as tablets and e-reading technology improve and reading digital books for facts and fun becomes more common. In the U.S., e-books currently make up between 15 and 20 percent of all trade book sales. Even so, evidence from laboratory experiments , polls and consumer reports indicates that modern screens and e-readers fail to adequately recreate certain tactile experiences of reading on paper that many people miss and, more importantly, prevent people from navigating long texts in an intuitive and satisfying way. In turn, such navigational difficulties may subtly inhibit reading comprehension. Compared with paper, screens may also drain more of our mental resources while we are reading and make it a little harder to remember what we read when we are done. A parallel line of research focuses on people's attitudes toward different kinds of media. Whether they realize it or not, many people approach computers and tablets with a state of mind less conducive to learning than the one they bring to paper.

"There is physicality in reading," says developmental psychologist and cognitive scientist Maryanne Wolf of Tufts University, "maybe even more than we want to think about as we lurch into digital reading—as we move forward perhaps with too little reflection. I would like to preserve the absolute best of older forms, but know when to use the new." Navigating textual landscapes Understanding how reading on paper is different from reading on screens requires some explanation of how the brain interprets written language. We often think of reading as a cerebral activity concerned with the abstract—with thoughts and ideas, tone and themes, metaphors and motifs. As far as our brains are concerned, however, text is a tangible part of the physical world we inhabit. In fact, the brain essentially regards letters as physical objects because it does not really have another way of understanding them. As Wolf explains in her book Proust and the Squid , we are not born with brain circuits dedicated to reading. After all, we did not invent writing until relatively recently in our evolutionary history, around the fourth millennium B.C. So the human brain improvises a brand-new circuit for reading by weaving together various regions of neural tissue devoted to other abilities, such as spoken language, motor coordination and vision. Some of these repurposed brain regions are specialized for object recognition —they are networks of neurons that help us instantly distinguish an apple from an orange, for example, yet classify both as fruit. Just as we learn that certain features—roundness, a twiggy stem, smooth skin—characterize an apple, we learn to recognize each letter by its particular arrangement of lines, curves and hollow spaces. Some of the earliest forms of writing, such as Sumerian cuneiform , began as characters shaped like the objects they represented —a person's head, an ear of barley, a fish. Some researchers see traces of these origins in modern alphabets: C as crescent moon, S as snake. Especially intricate characters—such as Chinese hanzi and Japanese kanji —activate motor regions in the brain involved in forming those characters on paper: The brain literally goes through the motions of writing when reading, even if the hands are empty. Researchers recently discovered that the same thing happens in a milder way when some people read cursive. Beyond treating individual letters as physical objects, the human brain may also perceive a text in its entirety as a kind of physical landscape. When we read, we construct a mental representation of the text in which meaning is anchored to structure. The exact nature of such representations remains unclear, but they are likely similar to the mental maps we create of terrain—such as mountains and trails—and of man-made physical spaces, such as apartments and offices. Both anecdotally and in published studies , people report that when trying to locate a particular piece of written information they often remember where in the text it appeared. We might recall that we passed the red farmhouse near the start of the trail before we started climbing uphill through the forest; in a similar way, we remember that we read about Mr. Darcy rebuffing Elizabeth Bennett on the bottom of the left-hand page in one of the earlier chapters. In most cases, paper books have more obvious topography than onscreen text. An open paperback presents a reader with two clearly defined domains—the left and right pages—and a total of eight corners with which to orient oneself. A reader can focus on a single page of a paper book without losing sight of the whole text: one can see where the book begins and ends and where one page is in relation to those borders. One can even feel the thickness of the pages read in one hand and pages to be read in the other. Turning the pages of a paper book is like leaving one footprint after another on the trail—there's a rhythm to it and a visible record of how far one has traveled. All these features not only make text in a paper book easily navigable, they also make it easier to form a coherent mental map of the text. In contrast, most screens, e-readers, smartphones and tablets interfere with intuitive navigation of a text and inhibit people from mapping the journey in their minds. A reader of digital text might scroll through a seamless stream of words, tap forward one page at a time or use the search function to immediately locate a particular phrase—but it is difficult to see any one passage in the context of the entire text. As an analogy, imagine if Google Maps allowed people to navigate street by individual street, as well as to teleport to any specific address, but prevented them from zooming out to see a neighborhood, state or country. Although e-readers like the Kindle and tablets like the iPad re-create pagination—sometimes complete with page numbers, headers and illustrations—the screen only displays a single virtual page: it is there and then it is gone. Instead of hiking the trail yourself, the trees, rocks and moss move past you in flashes with no trace of what came before and no way to see what lies ahead. "The implicit feel of where you are in a physical book turns out to be more important than we realized," says Abigail Sellen of Microsoft Research Cambridge in England and co-author of The Myth of the Paperless Office . "Only when you get an e-book do you start to miss it. I don't think e-book manufacturers have thought enough about how you might visualize where you are in a book." At least a few studies suggest that by limiting the way people navigate texts, screens impair comprehension. In a study published in January 2013 Anne Mangen of the University of Stavanger in Norway and her colleagues asked 72 10th-grade students of similar reading ability to study one narrative and one expository text, each about 1,500 words in length. Half the students read the texts on paper and half read them in pdf files on computers with 15-inch liquid-crystal display (LCD) monitors. Afterward, students completed reading-comprehension tests consisting of multiple-choice and short-answer questions, during which they had access to the texts. Students who read the texts on computers performed a little worse than students who read on paper. Based on observations during the study, Mangen thinks that students reading pdf files had a more difficult time finding particular information when referencing the texts. Volunteers on computers could only scroll or click through the pdfs one section at a time, whereas students reading on paper could hold the text in its entirety in their hands and quickly switch between different pages. Because of their easy navigability, paper books and documents may be better suited to absorption in a text. "The ease with which you can find out the beginning, end and everything inbetween and the constant connection to your path, your progress in the text, might be some way of making it less taxing cognitively, so you have more free capacity for comprehension," Mangen says. Supporting this research, surveys indicate that screens and e-readers interfere with two other important aspects of navigating texts: serendipity and a sense of control. People report that they enjoy flipping to a previous section of a paper book when a sentence surfaces a memory of something they read earlier, for example, or quickly scanning ahead on a whim. People also like to have as much control over a text as possible—to highlight with chemical ink, easily write notes to themselves in the margins as well as deform the paper however they choose. Because of these preferences—and because getting away from multipurpose screens improves concentration—people consistently say that when they really want to dive into a text, they read it on paper. In a 2011 survey of graduate students at National Taiwan University, the majority reported browsing a few paragraphs online before printing out the whole text for more in-depth reading. A 2008 survey of millennials (people born between 1980 and the early 2000s) at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island concluded that, "when it comes to reading a book, even they prefer good, old-fashioned print". And in a 2003 study conducted at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, nearly 80 percent of 687 surveyed students preferred to read text on paper as opposed to on a screen in order to "understand it with clarity". Surveys and consumer reports also suggest that the sensory experiences typically associated with reading—especially tactile experiences—matter to people more than one might assume. Text on a computer, an e-reader and—somewhat ironically—on any touch-screen device is far more intangible than text on paper. Whereas a paper book is made from pages of printed letters fixed in a particular arrangement, the text that appears on a screen is not part of the device's hardware—it is an ephemeral image. When reading a paper book, one can feel the paper and ink and smooth or fold a page with one's fingers; the pages make a distinctive sound when turned; and underlining or highlighting a sentence with ink permanently alters the paper's chemistry. So far, digital texts have not satisfyingly replicated this kind of tactility (although some companies are innovating, at least with keyboards ). Paper books also have an immediately discernible size, shape and weight. We might refer to a hardcover edition of War and Peace as a hefty tome or a paperback Heart of Darkness as a slim volume. In contrast, although a digital text has a length—which is sometimes represented with a scroll or progress bar—it has no obvious shape or thickness. An e-reader always weighs the same, regardless of whether you are reading Proust's magnum opus or one of Hemingway's short stories. Some researchers have found that these discrepancies create enough " haptic dissonance " to dissuade some people from using e-readers. People expect books to look, feel and even smell a certain way; when they do not, reading sometimes becomes less enjoyable or even unpleasant. For others, the convenience of a slim portable e-reader outweighs any attachment they might have to the feel of paper books. Exhaustive reading Although many old and recent studies conclude that people understand what they read on paper more thoroughly than what they read on screens, the differences are often small. Some experiments, however, suggest that researchers should look not just at immediate reading comprehension, but also at long-term memory. In a 2003 study Kate Garland of the University of Leicester and her colleagues asked 50 British college students to read study material from an introductory economics course either on a computer monitor or in a spiral-bound booklet. After 20 minutes of reading Garland and her colleagues quizzed the students with multiple-choice questions. Students scored equally well regardless of the medium, but differed in how they remembered the information. Psychologists distinguish between remembering something—which is to recall a piece of information along with contextual details, such as where, when and how one learned it—and knowing something, which is feeling that something is true without remembering how one learned the information. Generally, remembering is a weaker form of memory that is likely to fade unless it is converted into more stable, long-term memory that is "known" from then on. When taking the quiz, volunteers who had read study material on a monitor relied much more on remembering than on knowing, whereas students who read on paper depended equally on remembering and knowing. Garland and her colleagues think that students who read on paper learned the study material more thoroughly more quickly; they did not have to spend a lot of time searching their minds for information from the text, trying to trigger the right memory—they often just knew the answers. Other researchers have suggested that people comprehend less when they read on a screen because screen-based reading is more physically and mentally taxing than reading on paper. E-ink is easy on the eyes because it reflects ambient light just like a paper book, but computer screens, smartphones and tablets like the iPad shine light directly into people's faces. Depending on the model of the device, glare, pixilation and flickers can also tire the eyes. LCDs are certainly gentler on eyes than their predecessor, cathode-ray tubes (CRT), but prolonged reading on glossy self-illuminated screens can cause eyestrain, headaches and blurred vision. Such symptoms are so common among people who read on screens—affecting around 70 percent of people who work long hours in front of computers—that the American Optometric Association officially recognizes computer vision syndrome . Erik Wästlund of Karlstad University in Sweden has conducted some particularly rigorous research on whether paper or screens demand more physical and cognitive resources. In one of his experiments 72 volunteers completed the Higher Education Entrance Examination READ test—a 30-minute, Swedish-language reading-comprehension exam consisting of multiple-choice questions about five texts averaging 1,000 words each. People who took the test on a computer scored lower and reported higher levels of stress and tiredness than people who completed it on paper. In another set of experiments 82 volunteers completed the READ test on computers, either as a paginated document or as a continuous piece of text. Afterward researchers assessed the students' attention and working memory, which is a collection of mental talents that allow people to temporarily store and manipulate information in their minds. Volunteers had to quickly close a series of pop-up windows, for example, sort virtual cards or remember digits that flashed on a screen. Like many cognitive abilities, working memory is a finite resource that diminishes with exertion. Although people in both groups performed equally well on the READ test, those who had to scroll through the continuous text did not do as well on the attention and working-memory tests. Wästlund thinks that scrolling—which requires a reader to consciously focus on both the text and how they are moving it—drains more mental resources than turning or clicking a page, which are simpler and more automatic gestures. A 2004 study conducted at the University of Central Florida reached similar conclusions. Attitude adjustments An emerging collection of studies emphasizes that in addition to screens possibly taxing people's attention more than paper, people do not always bring as much mental effort to screens in the first place. Subconsciously, many people may think of reading on a computer or tablet as a less serious affair than reading on paper. Based on a detailed 2005 survey of 113 people in northern California, Ziming Liu of San Jose State University concluded that people reading on screens take a lot of shortcuts—they spend more time browsing, scanning and hunting for keywords compared with people reading on paper, and are more likely to read a document once, and only once. When reading on screens, people seem less inclined to engage in what psychologists call metacognitive learning regulation—strategies such as setting specific goals, rereading difficult sections and checking how much one has understood along the way. In a 2011 experiment at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, college students took multiple-choice exams about expository texts either on computers or on paper. Researchers limited half the volunteers to a meager seven minutes of study time; the other half could review the text for as long as they liked. When under pressure to read quickly, students using computers and paper performed equally well. When managing their own study time, however, volunteers using paper scored about 10 percentage points higher. Presumably, students using paper approached the exam with a more studious frame of mind than their screen-reading peers, and more effectively directed their attention and working memory. Perhaps, then, any discrepancies in reading comprehension between paper and screens will shrink as people's attitudes continue to change. The star of "A Magazine Is an iPad That Does Not Work" is three-and-a-half years old today and no longer interacts with paper magazines as though they were touchscreens, her father says. Perhaps she and her peers will grow up without the subtle bias against screens that seems to lurk in the minds of older generations. In current research for Microsoft, Sellen has learned that many people do not feel much ownership of e-books because of their impermanence and intangibility: "They think of using an e-book, not owning an e-book," she says. Participants in her studies say that when they really like an electronic book, they go out and get the paper version. This reminds Sellen of people's early opinions of digital music, which she has also studied. Despite initial resistance, people love curating, organizing and sharing digital music today. Attitudes toward e-books may transition in a similar way, especially if e-readers and tablets allow more sharing and social interaction than they currently do. Books on the Kindle can only be loaned once , for example. To date, many engineers, designers and user-interface experts have worked hard to make reading on an e-reader or tablet as close to reading on paper as possible. E-ink resembles chemical ink and the simple layout of the Kindle's screen looks like a page in a paperback. Likewise, Apple's iBooks attempts to simulate the overall aesthetic of paper books, including somewhat realistic page-turning. Jaejeung Kim of KAIST Institute of Information Technology Convergence in South Korea and his colleagues have designed an innovative and unreleased interface that makes iBooks seem primitive. When using their interface, one can see the many individual pages one has read on the left side of the tablet and all the unread pages on the right side, as if holding a paperback in one's hands. A reader can also flip bundles of pages at a time with a flick of a finger. But why, one could ask, are we working so hard to make reading with new technologies like tablets and e-readers so similar to the experience of reading on the very ancient technology that is paper? Why not keep paper and evolve screen-based reading into something else entirely? Screens obviously offer readers experiences that paper cannot. Scrolling may not be the ideal way to navigate a text as long and dense as Moby Dick , but the New York Times , Washington Post , ESPN and other media outlets have created beautiful, highly visual articles that depend entirely on scrolling and could not appear in print in the same way. Some Web comics and infographics turn scrolling into a strength rather than a weakness. Similarly, Robin Sloan has pioneered the tap essay for mobile devices. The immensely popular interactive Scale of the Universe tool could not have been made on paper in any practical way. New e-publishing companies like Atavist offer tablet readers long-form journalism with embedded interactive graphics, maps, timelines, animations and sound tracks. And some writers are pairing up with computer programmers to produce ever more sophisticated interactive fiction and nonfiction in which one's choices determine what one reads, hears and sees next. When it comes to intensively reading long pieces of plain text, paper and ink may still have the advantage. But text is not the only way to read.

Students learn better from books than screens, according to a new study

Limiting students to a purely digital world may not be helping all students to learn effectively. Image:  REUTERS/Michael Kooren

.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo{-webkit-transition:all 0.15s ease-out;transition:all 0.15s ease-out;cursor:pointer;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;outline:none;color:inherit;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:hover,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-hover]{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:focus,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-focus]{box-shadow:0 0 0 3px rgba(168,203,251,0.5);} Patricia A. Alexander

Lauren m. singer.

.chakra .wef-9dduvl{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-9dduvl{font-size:1.125rem;}} Explore and monitor how .chakra .wef-15eoq1r{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;color:#F7DB5E;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-15eoq1r{font-size:1.125rem;}} Youth Perspectives is affecting economies, industries and global issues

.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;color:#2846F8;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{font-size:1.125rem;}} Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:, youth perspectives.

Today’s students see themselves as digital natives , the first generation to grow up surrounded by technology like smartphones, tablets and e-readers.

Teachers, parents and policymakers certainly acknowledge the growing influence of technology and have responded in kind. We’ve seen more investment in classroom technologies , with students now equipped with school-issued iPads and access to e-textbooks. In 2009 , California passed a law requiring that all college textbooks be available in electronic form by 2020; in 2011 , Florida lawmakers passed legislation requiring public schools to convert their textbooks to digital versions.

Given this trend, teachers, students, parents and policymakers might assume that students’ familiarity and preference for technology translates into better learning outcomes. But we’ve found that’s not necessarily true.

As researchers in learning and text comprehension, our recent work has focused on the differences between reading print and digital media. While new forms of classroom technology like digital textbooks are more accessible and portable, it would be wrong to assume that students will automatically be better served by digital reading simply because they prefer it.

Speed – at a cost

Our work has revealed a significant discrepancy. Students said they preferred and performed better when reading on screens. But their actual performance tended to suffer.

For example, from our review of research done since 1992 , we found that students were able to better comprehend information in print for texts that were more than a page in length. This appears to be related to the disruptive effect that scrolling has on comprehension. We were also surprised to learn that few researchers tested different levels of comprehension or documented reading time in their studies of printed and digital texts.

To explore these patterns further, we conducted three studies that explored college students’ ability to comprehend information on paper and from screens.

Students first rated their medium preferences. After reading two passages, one online and one in print, these students then completed three tasks: Describe the main idea of the texts, list key points covered in the readings and provide any other relevant content they could recall. When they were done, we asked them to judge their comprehension performance.

Across the studies, the texts differed in length, and we collected varying data (e.g., reading time). Nonetheless, some key findings emerged that shed new light on the differences between reading printed and digital content:

Students overwhelming preferred to read digitally.

Reading was significantly faster online than in print.

Students judged their comprehension as better online than in print.

Paradoxically, overall comprehension was better for print versus digital reading.

The medium didn’t matter for general questions (like understanding the main idea of the text).

But when it came to specific questions, comprehension was significantly better when participants read printed texts.

Placing print in perspective

From these findings, there are some lessons that can be conveyed to policymakers, teachers, parents and students about print’s place in an increasingly digital world.

1. Consider the purpose

We all read for many reasons. Sometimes we’re looking for an answer to a very specific question. Other times, we want to browse a newspaper for today’s headlines.

As we’re about to pick up an article or text in a printed or digital format, we should keep in mind why we’re reading. There’s likely to be a difference in which medium works best for which purpose.

In other words, there’s no “one medium fits all” approach.

2. Analyze the task

One of the most consistent findings from our research is that, for some tasks, medium doesn’t seem to matter. If all students are being asked to do is to understand and remember the big idea or gist of what they’re reading, there’s no benefit in selecting one medium over another .

But when the reading assignment demands more engagement or deeper comprehension, students may be better off reading print . Teachers could make students aware that their ability to comprehend the assignment may be influenced by the medium they choose. This awareness could lessen the discrepancy we witnessed in students’ judgments of their performance vis-à-vis how they actually performed.

3. Slow it down

In our third experiment, we were able to create meaningful profiles of college students based on the way they read and comprehended from printed and digital texts.

Among those profiles, we found a select group of undergraduates who actually comprehended better when they moved from print to digital. What distinguished this atypical group was that they actually read slower when the text was on the computer than when it was in a book. In other words, they didn’t take the ease of engaging with the digital text for granted. Using this select group as a model, students could possibly be taught or directed to fight the tendency to glide through online texts.

4. Something that can’t be measured

There may be economic and environmental reasons to go paperless. But there’s clearly something important that would be lost with print’s demise.

In our academic lives, we have books and articles that we regularly return to. The dog-eared pages of these treasured readings contain lines of text etched with questions or reflections. It’s difficult to imagine a similar level of engagement with a digital text. There should probably always be a place for print in students’ academic lives – no matter how technologically savvy they become.

Of course, we realize that the march toward online reading will continue unabated. And we don’t want to downplay the many conveniences of online texts, which include breadth and speed of access.

Rather, our goal is simply to remind today’s digital natives – and those who shape their educational experiences – that there are significant costs and consequences to discounting the printed word’s value for learning and academic development.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Related topics:

The agenda .chakra .wef-n7bacu{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-weight:400;} weekly.

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

.chakra .wef-1dtnjt5{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-flex-wrap:wrap;-ms-flex-wrap:wrap;flex-wrap:wrap;} More on Youth Perspectives .chakra .wef-17xejub{-webkit-flex:1;-ms-flex:1;flex:1;justify-self:stretch;-webkit-align-self:stretch;-ms-flex-item-align:stretch;align-self:stretch;} .chakra .wef-nr1rr4{display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;white-space:normal;vertical-align:middle;text-transform:uppercase;font-size:0.75rem;border-radius:0.25rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;line-height:1.2;-webkit-letter-spacing:1.25px;-moz-letter-spacing:1.25px;-ms-letter-spacing:1.25px;letter-spacing:1.25px;background:none;padding:0px;color:#B3B3B3;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;}@media screen and (min-width:37.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:0.875rem;}}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:1rem;}} See all

This computer game makes students better at spotting fake news

Young people are becoming unhappier, a new report finds

A generation adrift: Why young people are less happy and what we can do about it

Andrew Moose and Ruma Bhargava

April 5, 2024

Lessons in leadership and adventure from Kat Bruce

How countries can save millions by prioritising young people's sexual and reproductive health

Tomoko Fukuda and Andreas Daugaard Jørgensen

March 4, 2024

This is how to help young people navigate the opportunities and risks of AI and digital technology

Simon Torkington

January 31, 2024

• Brain Development
• Childhood & Adolescence
• Diet & Lifestyle
• Emotions, Stress & Anxiety
• Learning & Memory
• Thinking & Awareness
• Alzheimer's & Dementia
• Childhood Disorders
• Immune System Disorders
• Mental Health
• Neurodegenerative Disorders
• Infectious Disease
• Neurological Disorders A-Z
• Body Systems
• Cells & Circuits
• Genes & Molecules
• The Arts & the Brain
• Law, Economics & Ethics

Neuroscience in the News

• Supporting Research
• Tech & the Brain
• Animals in Research
• BRAIN Initiative
• Meet the Researcher
• Neuro-technologies
• Tools & Techniques
• Core Concepts
• For Educators
• Ask an Expert
• The Brain Facts Book

Reading on Paper Versus Screens: What’s the Difference?

• Published 28 Jul 2020
• Author Kerry Benson
• Source BrainFacts/SfN

During the coronavirus pandemic, students worldwide shifted from the classroom to remote, online learning. Many swapped hard copy textbooks and worksheets for websites and other digital resources. Digital books have been with us for a decade — but how well are we absorbing it all?

Turns out print is easier to comprehend than digital text.

“[Print reading] is kind of like meditation — focusing our attention on something still,” says Anne Mangen, a literacy professor at the University of Stavanger in Norway. “And it’s a whole different kind of immersion than responding to [digital] stimuli. I think it’s healthy for us as human beings to sit down with something that doesn’t move, ping, or call on our attention.”

Print is visually less demanding than digital text. It provides spatial and tactile cues to help readers process words on a page. Mindset may also be a factor. If people associate screen time with casual web-surfing they may rush through without fully absorbing the text.

Do you think you’re the exception? Most people do. Studies found digital reading breeds overconfidence.

“We read digital [text] more quickly, [so] we think we must understand it better,” explains Lauren Singer Trakhman, who studies reading comprehension at the University of Maryland, College Park. “It’s one of the best parts of our digital world — everything is at our fingertips and we can get the headlines in a second — but it may also be one of the pitfalls. Everything’s so quick and accessible that we may not be truly digesting [what we read] anymore.”

Both scientists agree digital is fine to scan news headings for main ideas, but longer, complicated texts are best read in print, especially to retain the details.

TL;DR: Digital Reading Equals Shallower Processing

In 2016, Singer Trakhman examined undergraduates’ reading comprehension after they read digital and print versions of articles. Format didn’t affect their grasp of the main idea, but students missed details when reading on screens.

Digital reading impairs comprehension, particularly for longer, more complex texts, says Mangen. This may be because of the shallowing hypothesis — constant exposure to fast-paced, digital media trains the brain to process information more rapidly and less thoroughly.

“There’s not much [neuroscientific research] on the reading of actual texts,” Mangen says. However, existing research does offer some clues. In a 2009 study , the marketing research company Millward Brown found the brain processes physical and digital materials differently. Participants viewed advertisements on a screen and on a printed card while undergoing an fMRI scan. Print materials were more likely to activate the medial prefrontal cortex and cingulate cortex , both involved in processing emotions. Reading print also generated more activity in the parietal cortex , which processes visual and spatial cues.

Keep Scrolling or Turn the Page?

Scrolling through digital text may impair comprehension by creating spatial challenges. A 2017 study found participants’ reading comprehension suffered when they scrolled through a comic book’s individual panels instead of seeing them all at once. When we read, our brains construct a cognitive map of the text, like recalling that a piece of information appeared near the top, left-hand page of a book. But imagine drawing a map of something with constantly moving landmarks, like a webpage. It’s harder to map words that aren’t in a fixed location, because we lose important “visual placeholders,” says Singer Trakhman.

Scrolling demands more from our working memory, she adds. “In our working memory, we can hold about seven items at a time, so the goal when reading is to take away as many demands as possible. When we have to remember what we just read and we don’t have spatial [cues] to help, that’s taking some of our bandwidth.”

In addition, the LED screens’ constant flickering glow creates more work for our eyes, causing visual and mental fatigue.

However, e-readers, like Kindles, don’t require scrolling and reduce eyestrain with e-ink technology. Those are likely superior to other digital-text formats, Mangen says. But they lack an important aspect of the reading experience: turning the page.

In one of Mangen’s studies , participants read a story either on a Kindle or in print and then underwent comprehension tests. The texts were identical, but Kindle readers pressed a button to progress through the book, while print readers turned pages. Print readers were more likely to accurately recall the story’s chronological order. Mangen says this may be because print provides sensorimotor cues that enhance cognitive processing. When holding a book, we receive reminders of how many pages we’ve read and how many remain. We can flip pages to reread text as needed. Some research suggests we process information more effectively when we recruit multiple senses, and multiple brain areas, during task learning — seeing the words, feeling the weight of the pages, and even smelling the paper.

What Happens Next?

Instead of getting better at digital reading, we may be getting worse. A study examining reading comprehension research between 2000 and 2017 indicates it’s harder to comprehend digital text. The researchers found print’s advantages are greater now than in 2000. In other words, this digital-reading problem isn’t going away.

“This [finding may] have to do with the shallowing hypothesis,” Mangen says. “The habits that we acquire when we read on screens are spilling over, and we’re trying to cope by reading faster and more superficially.”

Mangen and Singer Trakhman agree we shouldn’t ditch digital reading; instead we should consider the situation when choosing our reading medium.

“I’ll never say that everyone should be reading print all the time,” says Singer Trakhman. “People are always shocked to hear that I have a Kindle, and I love my Kindle. But I only use it when I’m reading for pleasure.”

To retain on-screen text information, Singer Trakham and Mangen suggest slowing down and handwriting main takeaways. (Typing works, but handwriting is likely a superior memory tool.) 

When you need a break from the digital world, don’t underestimate the power of paper and ink. Consider turning off your electronic devices, getting a book, and curling up to turn the page.

About the Author

Kerry Benson

Kerry Benson is a writer and neuroscience enthusiast who received a neuroscience degree from Connecticut College in 2016 and a master’s in science writing from Johns Hopkins University in 2018.

CONTENT PROVIDED BY

BrainFacts/SfN

Discussion Questions

1) What are the advantages of print reading over digital?

2) What areas of the brain respond when we read print text?

3) Why do researchers think it’s getting harder to comprehend digital text?

Delgado, P., Vargas, C., Ackerman, R., & Salmerón, L. (2018). Don’t throw away your printed books: A meta-analysis on the effects of reading media on reading comprehension. Educational Research Review, 25 , 23–38. doi: 10.1016/j.edurev.2018.09.003

Garland, K. J., & Noyes, J. M. (2004). CRT monitors: Do they interfere with learning? Behaviour & Information Technology, 23 (1), 43–52. doi: 10.1080/01449290310001638504

Hou, J., Rashid, J., & Lee, K. M. (2017). Cognitive map or medium materiality? Reading on paper and screen. Computers in Human Behavior, 67 , 84–94. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.10.014

Lauterman, T., & Ackerman, R. (2014). Overcoming screen inferiority in learning and calibration. Computers in Human Behavior, 35 , 455–463. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2014.02.046

Mangen, A., Olivier, G., & Velay, J.-L. (2019). Comparing Comprehension of a Long Text Read in Print Book and on Kindle: Where in the Text and When in the Story? Frontiers in Psychology, 10 , 38. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00038

Mangen, A., Walgermo, B. R., & Brønnick, K. (2013). Reading linear texts on paper versus computer screen: Effects on reading comprehension. International Journal of Educational Research, 58 , 61–68. doi: 10.1016/j.ijer.2012.12.002

Mayer, K. M., Yildiz, I. B., Macedonia, M., & von Kriegstein, K. (2015). Visual and Motor Cortices Differentially Support the Translation of Foreign Language Words. Current Biology, 25 (4), 530–535. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.11.068

Millward Brown Case Study—Using Neuroscience to Understand. (2009). Retrieved from https://www.millwardbrown.com/docs/default-source/insight-documents/case-studies/MillwardBrown_CaseStudy_Neuroscience.pdf

Singer Trakhman, L., & Alexander, P. (2016). Reading Across Mediums: Effects of Reading Digital and Print Texts on Comprehension and Calibration. The Journal of Experimental Education . doi: 10.1080/00220973.2016.1143794

Smoker, T. J., Murphy, C. E., & Rockwell, A. K. (2009). Comparing Memory for Handwriting versus Typing. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 53 (22), 1744–1747. doi: 10.1177/154193120905302218

Yan, Z., Hu, L., Chen, H., & Lu, F. (2008). Computer Vision Syndrome: A widely spreading but largely unknown epidemic among computer users. Including the Special Issue: Internet Empowerment, 24 (5), 2026–2042. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2007.09.004

Also In Tech & the Brain

Popular articles on BrainFacts.org

BrainFacts Book

Download a copy of the newest edition of the book, Brain Facts: A Primer on the Brain and Nervous System.

Check out the latest news from the field.

Educator Resources

Explain the brain to your students with a variety of teaching tools and resources.

SUPPORTING PARTNERS

• Privacy Policy
• Accessibility Policy
• Terms and Conditions
• Manage Cookies

Some pages on this website provide links that require Adobe Reader to view.

• Newsletters

IE 11 Not Supported

Books vs. screens: what does the latest research say, digital texts can be useful for teaching certain foundational skills, but they do not equally develop cognitive patience and slower, deeper processes in the brain that serve comprehension, retention and focus..

WHICH IS BEST FOR COMPREHENSION, SCREENS OR BOOKS?

Hooked on computer phonics, preserving deep reading.

The Hechinger Report

Covering Innovation & Inequality in Education

A textbook dilemma: Digital or paper?

Share this:

• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education. Sign up for our  weekly newsletters  to get stories like this delivered directly to your inbox. Consider supporting our stories and becoming  a member  today.

Get important education news and analysis delivered straight to your inbox

• Weekly Update
• Future of Learning
• Higher Education
• Early Childhood
• Proof Points

My friend Joanne was packing her youngest child off to college this month and wrestling with a modern dilemma: Is it better to buy textbooks in digital form or old-fashioned print? One of her son’s professors was recommending an online text for a business course: lighter, always accessible and seriously cheaper ($88 vs. $176 for a 164-page book). But Joanne’s instinct was that her son would “learn better” from a printed volume, free of online distractions, and with pages he could dog-ear, peruse in any order, and inscribe with marginal notes. Her son was inclined to agree.

Many of us book lovers cherish the tactile qualities of print, but some of this preference is emotional or nostalgic. Do reading and note-taking on paper offer any measurable advantages for learning? Given the high cost of hard-backed textbooks, is it wiser to save the money and the back strain by going digital?

You might think that, decades into the digital revolution, we would have a clear answer to this question. Wrong. Earlier this year educational psychologist Patricia Alexander, a literacy scholar at the University of Maryland, published a thorough review of recent research on the topic.  She was “shocked,” she says, to find that out of 878 potentially relevant studies published between 1992 and 2017, only 36 directly compared reading in digital and in print and measured learning in a reliable way. (Many of the other studies zoomed in on aspects of e-reading, such as eye movements or the merits of different kinds of screens.)

Aside from pointing up a blatant need for more research, Alexander’s review, co-authored with doctoral student Lauren Singer and appearing in Review of Educational Research , affirmed at least one practical finding:  if you are reading something lengthy – more than 500 words or more than a page of the book or screen – your comprehension will likely take a hit if you’re using a digital device. The finding was supported by numerous studies and held true for students in college, high school and grade school.

Research suggests that the explanation is at least partly the greater physical and mental demands of reading on a screen: the nuisance of scrolling, and the tiresome glare and flicker of some devices. There may be differences in the concentration we bring to a digital environment, too, where we are accustomed to browsing and multitasking. And some researchers have observed that working your way through a print volume leaves spatial impressions that stick in your mind (for instance, the lingering memory of where a certain passage or diagram appeared in a book).

Of 878 potentially relevant studies published between 1992 and 2017, only 36 directly compared reading in digital to reading in print, and measured learning in a reliable way.

Alexander and Singer have done their own studies of the digital versus print question. In a 2016 experiment they asked 90 undergraduates to read short informational texts (about 450 words) on a computer and in print. Due to the length, no scrolling was required, but there still was a difference in how much they absorbed. The students performed equally well in describing the main idea of the passages no matter the medium, but when asked to list additional key points and recall further details, the print readers had the edge.

Curiously, the students themselves were unaware of this advantage. In fact, after answering comprehension questions, 69% said they believed they had performed better after reading on a computer. Researchers call this failure of insight poor “calibration.”

The point of such research, as Alexander herself notes, is not to anoint a winner in a contest between digital and print. We all swim in a sea of electronic information and there’s no turning back the tide.

“The core question,” Alexander said in an interview, is “when is a reader best served by a particular medium. And what kind of readers? What age? What kind of text are we talking about? All of those elements matter a great deal.”

On top of that, we all could do with a lot more self-awareness about how we learn from reading.

For example, a big reason that students in the study thought they learned better from digital text is that they moved more quickly in that medium. Research by Alexander and others has confirmed this faster pace. “They assume that because they were going faster, they understood it better,” Alexander observes. “It’s an illusion.”

If students become aware of this illusion, they can make better choices. Just as they might decide to turn off social media alerts while studying an online textbook, they might want to consciously slow themselves down when reading for deep meaning. On the other hand, when reading for pleasure or surface information, they can let ’er rip.

Digital text makes it easy for students to copy and paste key passages into a document for further study, but there is little research on how this compares with taking notes by hand.

“They assume that because they were going faster [reading digitally], they understood it better. It’s an illusion.”

“We study things like highlighting and underlining,” Alexander says, “but those kind of motor responses have never been of highest value in terms of text-processing strategies” – whether done with a cursor or a marker. The studying strategy with “the greatest power,” she adds, involves deeply questioning the text — asking yourself if you agree with the author, and why or why not.

Dutch scholar Joost Kircz points out that these are still early days for digital reading, and new and better formats will continue to emerge. In his view, the linear format of a traditional book is well suited for narratives but not necessarily ideal for academic texts or scientific papers.

“In narrative prose fiction, the author strictly determines the reading path,” he and co-author August Hans Den Boef write in The Unbound Book , a  collection of essays about the future of reading. “But in a digital environment we can easily enable a plurality of reading paths in educational and scholarly texts.”

In addition to the hyperlinks, video and audio that currently enhance many digital texts, Kircz would like to see innovations such as multiple types of hyperlinks, perhaps in a rainbow of colors that denote specific purposes (annotation, elaboration, contrary views, media, etc.). He also imagines digital books that could enable a variety of paths through a body of work.  Not all information is linear or even layered, he told me: “There’s a lot of information that’s spherical. You cannot stack it up. The question is to what extent can we mimic human understanding?”

While we await those future digital products, students deciding what school books to buy this fall would do well to ask themselves just what they hope to get from the text. As Alexander notes, “If I’m only trying to learn something that’s going to be covered on a test and the test is shallow in nature, then [digital] is just fine.” If, on the other hand, you hope to dive in deeply and gather imperishable pearls, spring for the book.

This story was produced by The Hechinger Report , the nonprofit, independent news website focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for our newsletter .

Related articles

The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn't mean it's free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.

Join us today.

Claudia Wallis

Claudia... More by Claudia Wallis

Letters to the Editor

At The Hechinger Report, we publish thoughtful letters from readers that contribute to the ongoing discussion about the education topics we cover. Please read our guidelines for more information. We will not consider letters that do not contain a full name and valid email address. You may submit news tips or ideas here without a full name, but not letters.

By submitting your name, you grant us permission to publish it with your letter. We will never publish your email address. You must fill out all fields to submit a letter.

I consider this report timely, indeed, not to mention informative. Such a decision–digital vs. paper–is not just a decision that young(er) students may make either. It should be given serious consideration by educational agencies that purport to help teachers teach. Three very recent Frameworks (Think blueprints for curriculum.) have been published by the California Department of Education (CDE): History-Social Science, at 985 pages; English Language Arts/English Language Development (ELA/ELD), at 1073 pages, and Science at 1800+ pages. Because of the size of these guides, the CDE makes them available electronically only. When I priced a hard copy of the ELA/ELD Framework at a local copy place, I was told: $225. Because of my connection with my local university, CSULB, I got it for (only!) $75.

One of the biggest issues I have found for my 6th grader after years of hard copies is getting familiar with the format being used. Now an assignment may say read pages 1 & 2 and answer between 7-15 questions on the assignment. At first I thought my daughter saying she couldn’t find answers was just being a bit bored and lax in studying. Then I tried to find the answers: There are also between 3-6 additional links to video or articles to read. And the question section is also about the additional pages and info. The layout just seems clunky and for an ADHD student getting lost in reading a side article before finishing the main page, or reading through so many extras she forgot the main pages lesson. I’ve watched her grades drop from A’s in 5th grade to barely passing the first 9 weeks.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Sign me up for the newsletter!

Submit a letter

• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Skip to footer

Technology vs Books: Which is Superior and Why?

Knowledge, a prerequisite to living a meaningful life, is available in both books and technology. Before we get to the discussion of technology vs books, let us first understand that both can be used as a means. The goal is to gain knowledge that can be put to use. Hence, technology and books are tools to achieve this end goal. People have their preferences, however. Some prefer technology that comes with a lot of conveniences, while others favor books that come with a unique vibe. But to draw a clear picture, let us first understand the importance of each and then move on to their comparison.

Table of Contents

Comparison Table of Tech vs Book

Significance of technology.

Declaring that technology has changed our lives would be an understatement. Technology has done much more than that. In fact, the technological era that we are living in has provided us with remarkable tools and enhanced our way of living.

Technology has influenced our lives so much that we can hardly contemplate how our lives would have turned out otherwise. It has made information easily accessible, thus empowering people to explore various topics and broaden their horizons.

To understand the influence of technology further, compare the traditional and modern times. Take businesses, for example. Those who implemented technology and went online are giving cut-throat competition in the market. Whereas, the businesses that were slow to adopt technology, or refuse to do so, are limited in scope. Incontestably, the differences are substantial, so much so that the results speak volumes.

Importance of books

The most popular point that people make in arguments about the superiority of paper books is the smell of old ones. Well, they are not wrong here, but there are more supporting points. Firstly, your books are not prone to leave you like technology when there are power outages.

Secondly, with books, there are physical interactions. This physical interactivity promotes deeper learning. Plus, you can feel your progress as you turn the pages towards the end. Lastly, books give a sense of ownership, which proffers personalization.

With books, you can find reference sources, so you can rest assured knowing the information is correct. This is an advantage of choosing books over technology, where the legitimacy of information can be trusted. This is unlike technology, where anyone can meddle with the information and lead people astray. Additionally, books improve imaginative and creative skills. These will eventually become essential in developing innovative solutions.

Books are pretty important, and there is evidence that backs up this claim. A scientific study by Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus, Ph.D., and John S. Hutton, MD, clearly shows that 3- or 4-year-old kids who read a book with an adult exhibit more activation in the region of their brains responsible for linguistic abilities than when listening to an audiobook.

In another study , it was found that 8- to 12-year-olds have better brain connectivity when reading from a paper book instead of a screen. It only goes to show how much books matter in our developmental stages.

Why books are important

Apart from the reasons already mentioned, preserving books is vital. Here are some more points you should keep in mind –

• Knowledge Transfer: Books are a primary medium for transmitting knowledge, culture, and ideas from one generation to another. While technology can be destroyed easily, books may still be there even after a catastrophic event.
• Critical Thinking: They encourage critical thinking, analysis, and the development of intellectual skills.
• Language Skills: If you are a reader, it will enhance your vocabulary, grammar, and language comprehension.
• Stress Reduction: Reading can reduce stress by providing an escape from daily life. Also, they will help to do that without health issues such as eye strain.
• Entertainment: Books offer entertainment, escapism, and enjoyment through storytelling. Could be a great way to entertain yourself.
• Preservation of Culture: Books preserve cultural heritage and historical records.
• Education: Books are the fundamental tools for formal and informal education. Without books, it’s hard to run the current school system intact.
• Empathy: Reading diverse literature fosters empathy and understanding of different cultures and viewpoints.
• Research: They serve as invaluable sources for research and academic pursuits. While technology is relatively more capable, older journals and research are still preserved in hard copy.
• Reliability: Books often cannot undergo rigorous editing and can be easily fact-checked, making them reliable sources of information in comparison
• Physical Copies: Physical books do not rely on technology and are accessible even without electricity or devices. So, even if there is a blackout, they are good to go.
• Collectibles: Rare and collectible books hold historical and monetary value.
• Community Building: Books can foster communities through book clubs and discussions.
• Cognitive Benefits: Reading can improve cognitive function, memory, and concentration.
• Literary Art: They are a form of artistic expression and storytelling.
• Historical Significance: Many books have played pivotal roles in shaping societies and movements.

Technology vs books: What’s the difference?

After examining the importance of technology and books individually, let us explore their comparison by taking various factors into account.

Accessibility

Technology has improved the access to information strikingly. With a device and internet connection, you can have all the information at your fingertips. This is to say, it has made a plethora of resources available online. Moreover, the information can be accessed from anywhere at any time. eBooks are a great example of this.

Unlike books, you don’t have to worry about damaging devices while learning information on the go. Books are no doubt quite informational, but if you want to jump between topics, they are not a feasible option. You will end up referring to multiple books at a time.

Health concerns

Seeing kids with books the whole day doesn’t bother parents more than catching them with technology. Their concerns are understandable, as technology brings a lot of health problems. Prolonged use of technology leads to headaches, along with eye strain, back pain, neck pain, and so on.

Compare this with books, where even investing a few minutes a day can have positive impacts. This was found in a study that also stated reading books lowers blood pressure and heart rate. Besides, the activity also reduces feelings of distress.

Affordability

Technology is more affordable compared to books. Suppose you went through the back-cover summaries and finally decided on a book. If the book doesn’t meet your expectations halfway, you are left with no option but to get a new one. That will not only incur costs but also waste your time.

On the contrary, with technology, all you have to do is delete the current e-book and download others that interest you. Therefore, technology is more time-efficient and provides more flexibility compared to books.

Technology provides endless information and entertainment. That’s more like a curse in disguise. There are recommendations lined up to complete as soon as you are done ingesting current information. Too many options at a time create confusion and lead to distractions.

How often do you find yourself on web pages that you weren’t looking for, or going through happenings that you are least concerned about? This is a common problem in today’s technological world, which also happens to make people more anxious and stressed.

Contrariwise, we have books that take people to different realms through words. These words are written by those who are long gone but still have a significant impact on people’s lives. No doubt, technology allows you to read books too, but the distinction in reading experience is hard to overlook.

Reading via technology comes with lots of distractions in the form of notifications, diverting the reader’s attention. Books allow readers to fully immerse themselves in the topic or story, as well as live the lives of the various characters, so to speak. With technology, users are more likely to keep multitasking instead of enjoying the experience of reading.

Pros and Cons of Technology over Books

Although there is a constant debate about whether technology is a boon or a curse, when it comes to books, we have to admit there are certain advantages to technology that a book simply doesn’t have. On the other hand, there are things a book can do that technology can’t replicate.

Pros of Technology over Books

There are certainly things and areas where technology excels when compared to books. These are highlighted below:

1. Provides an enhanced interactive experience

First and foremost, technology excels at providing an immersive and interactive experience that a book simply can’t compete with. Technology is making strides daily, and with each passing day, it has more to offer.

Today, technology is not only interactive but also immersive. If wielded correctly, it can lead us into a glorious future. Books, while remarkable on their own, simply do not have this. Many even believe books to be mundane, if the education system is any indication.

2. Access to a literally unlimited amount of information

By using technology, one can access a treasure trove of information, all at once, in mere seconds. It is not only time-serving but also life-saving. Books are nowhere near this sort of convenience. Furthermore, books are typically constant in the kind of information that they provide, unlike technology, which can alter, add, edit, or remove information.

Take the internet, for example. If you want information on cats, it can literally present millions of web pages worth of data. A book, even an encyclopedia with several volumes, will find it very hard to match it.

3. Saves Paper

Technology is also fundamental when it comes to saving paper. Books are printed on paper that is produced after cutting down trees. Technology has allowed us to bypass this. Although we are not saying that technology is not a burden on nature, because it is, it is still integral when it comes to saving paper.

Cons of Technology over Books

Although the advantage of technology can be glaring at times, we should never forget that a coin has two sides, and as such, technology can be a humble servant but a cruel master. Keeping that in mind, here are a few disadvantages of the technology associated with books:

1. It can be too distracting

This one is obvious, since technology is all-encompassing, there is a lot that can distract one for good. At times, it has proven much more difficult for people to concentrate as there is a constant source of distraction on hand. The constant use of technology has also shortened our attention spans, which makes us easily lose focus.

2. Harsh on the Environment

It’s also true that, unlike books that are only a threat to trees, technological advancement can endanger entire ecosystems. It requires power, such as electricity, to work, which is generated using fossil fuels. Now, we do not have to address the effect carbon emission has on the environment, right? Furthermore, the e-waste generated due to old, discarded, or obsolete technological products is also an environmental threat we have to address.

3. Can lead to health issues

Technology and its products can lead to health issues such as backache, troubled eyesight, headaches, and even mental health issues such as depression or anxiety. While books also have small print, sufficient lighting can still help.

You can check our article on the pros and cons of technology to understand this better,

Reflecting on the books vs technology debate

One of the reasons people prefer technology to books is because they don’t have enough time or patience to sit through the process. Technology is a quicker way of getting information, whereas reading books is a slow process. But when it comes to retaining information, books have the upper hand. This happens because people tend to read fast on their screens, which makes it harder to retain information.

Now that we reached the end of this analysis, what are your thoughts on technology vs books? Would you prefer one over the other? If so, will that be worth it?

• EssayBasics.com
• Pay For Essay
• Write My Essay
• Homework Writing Help
• Essay Editing Service
• Thesis Writing Help
• Write My College Essay
• Do My Essay
• Term Paper Writing Service
• Coursework Writing Service
• Write My Research Paper
• Assignment Writing Help
• Essay Writing Help
• Call Now! (USA) Login Order now
• EssayBasics.com Call Now! (USA) Order now
• Writing Guides

Books vs. Computers (Essay Sample) 2023

Table of Contents

Books vs. Computers

How Can I Get Essay For Free and Is it realistic to expect a low-cost, High-Quality Essay from a Cheap Paper Writing Service ?

 Books vs. Computers

Since invasion, computer has been the best invasion of all time apart from the invasion of fire. Nowadays most people prefer to use computer to books in their daily activities. Students prefer to research their homework using computer than books. This has seen different debate rising on whether computers should replace the books. However some people also prefer books to computers since they strongly believe in the words of books and the environment they have grown in has played an impact in supporting that books are more of better than computers. Research has therefore been carried out and findings were that children and teenagers as well as some aged people use computer often in doing research work compared to books. People believe that one can have eye problems since one strain a lot in reading the content of a computer. This is as a result of people often thinking that reading books is better in our health than computers. One puts emphasis on the issues associated with computer for instance, software power, internet and other technological issues. This has done people to prefer books since one can read anywhere using the natural light. As a result of so books have positive opinions and negative opinions as well as computers. The opinion varies depending on age, technology and culture in the society around as well as education level. This essay seeks to talk about books verses computers in the modern world.

Of late technology has improved much. Therefore schools should adapt to the modern trends. One can argue that instead of schools compiling books in the library of which they contain same information but put in different context, they should installs computers for children to do their research easily. Computers contain most documents required by one to learn. Books have been put in the website and students can easily access  and do their work instead of buying several books which increase the weight since one needs to carry all around for him or her to access the information needed. Due to improvement in technology, businesses have grown and large companies are established. This achievement has made the companies to connect transacting, order for goods and purchase them easily. If children are taught the use of computer at an early stage, one can adapt to the modern trends and improve their computer skills. In finding information for instance if you want to find the history of martin Luther king, one can open a computer page and access the information provided one has internet. Books are slowly being replaced by computer and people have opted to computer since they are fast and convenience. Although there are challenges that come with the computers such as influence on bad behavior and unhealthy condition associated with the computer but one has to bear witness that so far one can access the required, important information within seconds rather than purchasing lots of books for reference. According to the latest sales in eBooks, it has recorded 150% increase since people have preferred eBooks than books. This is significant since eBooks are the same as books only that eBooks are read using the computer. EBook has help minimize the cost of purchase and cutting down of trees for manufacture of paper since it is cheaper. One can argue that due to straining of eyes one can be incurred with health problems but to solve such problems e-glasses have been produced to cater for one’s sight during reading of eBooks. So far computers have replaced books the use of computers is on the rise…

In conclusion, books vs computers is a kind of debate that has seen people coming out with different opinions. Some conclude that computer are expensive compared to books but one can agree that the cost of entire books needed in one’s career is much more compared to the cost of a laptop. Information can be acquired within clicks of buttons and one can do research, retrieve information or request for information within seconds. The modern world has changed and so far computer s have been widely used or relied on than books. People should change and adapt to the modern world of technology.

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to footer

My Book Brief .

Updated on November 3, 2023

eBooks vs. Printed Books: The Ultimate Comparison

eBooks vs. Printed Books: Which is Better?

The debate over eBooks vs. printed books has been raging for years, with passionate arguments on both sides. Some people swear by the convenience and portability of eBooks, while others insist that nothing can replace the tactile experience of reading a physical book. So which is better? The answer, as with most things, is not black and white.

Understanding eBooks and Printed Books Before diving into the pros and cons of each format, it’s important to understand what they are. eBooks are digital versions of books that can be read on electronic devices like tablets, e-readers, and smartphones. Printed books, on the other hand, are physical copies of books that you can hold in your hands and flip through. Both formats have unique characteristics and benefits; their choice ultimately depends on personal preference.

Key Takeaways:

• The debate over eBooks vs. printed books has been ongoing for years.
• eBooks are digital versions of books, while printed books are physical copies.
• The choice between the two ultimately comes down to personal preference.

• 1.1 What are eBooks?
• 1.2 What are Printed Books?
• 2.1 From Print to Digital
• 2.2 Growth of eBooks
• 3.1 Price of eBooks
• 3.2 Price of Printed Books
• 4.1 Access to eBooks
• 4.2 Access to Printed Books
• 5.1 Reading eBooks
• 5.2 Reading Printed Books
• 6.1 Portability of eBooks
• 6.2 Storage of Printed Books
• 7.1 Impact of eBooks
• 7.2 Impact of Printed Books
• 8.1 Features of eBooks
• 8.2 Drawbacks of eBooks
• 8.3 Features of Printed Books
• 8.4 Drawbacks of Printed Books
• 9.1 Popularity of eBooks
• 9.2 Sales of Printed Books
• 10 Role in Education
• 11.1 eBook Publishing
• 11.2 Printed Book Publishing
• 12 Conclusion

Understanding eBooks and Printed Books

What are ebooks.

E-books are digital books that can be read on electronic devices such as e-readers, tablets, smartphones, and computers. EBooks are typically available in digital formats like PDF, EPUB, and MOBI. They can be purchased and downloaded online from various online retailers or borrowed from online libraries.

EBooks offer several advantages over printed books. One of the most significant advantages is portability. EBooks can be stored on a single device, making them easy to carry. They are also lightweight, which makes them ideal for people who travel frequently. Additionally, eBooks can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection, making them convenient for people who don’t have access to physical libraries.

What are Printed Books?

Printed books, also known as physical books, are traditional books that are printed on paper and bound together. Printed books have been around for centuries and are still widely used today. Printed books are available in various sizes, formats, and bindings, including hardcover, paperback, and spiral-bound.

Printed books offer several advantages over eBooks. One of the most significant advantages is the tactile experience. Printed books have a physical presence that digital books cannot replicate. They have a distinct smell, texture, and weight that many people find appealing. Additionally, printed books do not require any electronic devices to read, making them accessible to people who do not have access to technology.

In summary, eBooks and printed books each have their advantages and disadvantages. EBooks are portable and convenient, while printed books offer a tactile experience that digital books cannot replicate. Ultimately, the choice between eBooks and printed books comes from personal preference.

The Evolution of Reading

From print to digital.

For centuries, books have been printed on paper and bound together to create a physical product that people could hold in their hands. This traditional format has been the primary way people have consumed books for centuries. However, digital reading has become increasingly popular with the advent of technology.

Introducing e-readers such as Kindle and other e-reader devices has revolutionized how people read. E-readers allow readers to download and store thousands of books on a single device, making it easier to carry around many books. They also come with font style and size flexibility, which is especially helpful for those with visual impairments.

Growth of eBooks

E-books have seen tremendous growth in recent years as more and more people have embraced digital reading. According to a study, the global paper books market will encompass around 1.87 billion readers by 2027, while e-reader users are expected to reach 1.2 billion. This suggests that e-books have the potential to complement the publishing industry instead of replacing it.

One of the advantages of e-books is that they tend to be significantly cheaper than print versions. Plus, many public domain books can be downloaded as e-books for free on sites like Project Gutenberg. E-books can be read on computers, smartphones, tablets, and e-readers, making them more versatile than print books.

While print books remain popular, the fast-paced modern world has increased the popularity of e-books. As technology evolves, it will be interesting to see how the reading experience evolves.

Comparing Costs

Price of ebooks.

One of the most significant advantages of eBooks is their lower cost than printed books. EBooks do not require printing, shipping, or storage costs, so they are significantly cheaper than their printed counterparts. Many public domain books can be downloaded as eBooks for free on sites like Project Gutenberg. Additionally, eBooks can be stored electronically and in the cloud to protect them from getting lost, stolen, or damaged.

However, it is essential to note that the price of eBooks can vary depending on various factors, including the publisher, author, and platform. Some eBooks may be more expensive than printed versions, particularly for new releases or bestsellers.

Price of Printed Books

On the other hand, printed books tend to be more expensive than eBooks due to the costs associated with printing, shipping, and storage. Additionally, the price of printed books can vary depending on the publisher, author, book format, and retailer. Hardcover books, for example, tend to be more expensive than paperbacks.

Moreover, printed books may not offer the same cost savings as eBooks, especially for avid readers who purchase many books. Buying and storing printed books can add up over time, making eBooks a more cost-effective option in the long run.

In conclusion, while eBooks tend to be cheaper than printed books, the price of eBooks can vary depending on various factors, and some printed books may offer better value than eBooks in certain situations. Ultimately, the decision between eBooks and printed books should be based on personal preferences, reading habits, and budget.

Accessibility and Availability

Access to ebooks.

One of the biggest advantages of eBooks is their accessibility. eBooks can be purchased and downloaded from anywhere with an internet connection, enabling readers to enjoy them from their homes. Additionally, eBooks can be read on various devices, including tablets, smartphones, and e-readers, making them a convenient choice for readers who are always on the go.

Another advantage of eBooks is that they are often cheaper than printed books. Many eBooks are available for free, especially those that are in the public domain. Websites like Project Gutenberg offer a vast collection of free eBooks that can be downloaded and read on any device.

Access to Printed Books

While eBooks are convenient, they are not the only option for readers. Printed books are still widely available and can be found in bookstores, libraries, and even online. While some books may be out of stock, readers can usually find what they want by checking with their local library or ordering the book online.

One advantage of printed books is that they do not require an internet connection to access. This means that readers can take their books wherever they go without worrying about battery life or internet connectivity. Additionally, printed books can be shared with others, making them a great option for book clubs or for readers who enjoy discussing books with friends and family.

In conclusion, both eBooks and printed books have advantages regarding accessibility and availability. While eBooks offer convenience and affordability, printed books offer a tangible reading experience and can be found in various locations. Ultimately, the choice between eBooks and printed books comes down to personal preference and the reader’s needs.

Reading Experience

Reading experience is a crucial aspect when it comes to deciding which one is better, between eBooks and printed books. Both have their pros and cons. Let’s take a closer look at each.

Reading eBooks

Reading an eBook can be a different experience than reading a printed book. One of the major advantages of eBooks is that they are lightweight and portable. You can carry hundreds or even thousands of books in a single device. This makes it easy to read on the go or while traveling.

Another advantage of eBooks is that they offer interactive features such as highlighting, bookmarking, and dictionary lookup. You can easily highlight a word or a sentence and look up its definition without putting down the book. This can be especially helpful for people with dyslexia or struggling with reading.

However, reading eBooks can also cause eye strain due to the backlit screen. Taking breaks and adjusting the brightness and font size is important to avoid eye strain.

Reading Printed Books

Reading a printed book can be a more immersive experience than reading an eBook. The book’s physicality can make it easier to focus on the content and get lost in the story. The tactile experience of turning the pages and feeling the weight of the book can also be satisfying.

Additionally, printed books do not cause eye strain as eBooks do. The font size is fixed, which can be helpful for people with visual impairments. However, this can also disadvantage those who prefer larger font sizes.

One downside of printed books is that they do not offer interactive features like highlighting or dictionary lookup. This can make it more difficult to keep track of important information or look up unfamiliar words.

Overall, the reading experience can be different between eBooks and printed books. It ultimately comes down to personal preference and what works best for each reader.

Portability and Storage

Portability of ebooks.

One of the biggest advantages of eBooks over printed books is their portability. eBooks can be stored as digital files on smartphones, tablets, and e-readers. This makes it easy for readers to carry around an entire library of books without needing physical storage space. Users can access their eBooks from anywhere, as long as they have their device with them and an internet connection. This makes eBooks a great option for people who are always on the go and don’t want to carry around heavy books .

Storage of Printed Books

Printed books, on the other hand, require physical storage space. Hardcover books can take up a lot of space on bookshelves, and carrying them around can be cumbersome. While paperbacks are more portable, they can still take up a lot of space if you have a large collection. Additionally, printed books can be damaged by moisture, pests, and other environmental factors. This means that they require proper storage conditions to ensure their longevity.

Regarding storage, eBooks have a clear advantage over printed books. They don’t require physical storage space, and environmental factors can’t damage them. However, some readers may prefer the tactile experience of holding a physical book. Ultimately, the choice between eBooks and printed books will come from personal preference and individual needs.

Environmental Impact

Impact of ebooks.

Ebooks are often considered to have a lower environmental impact than printed books. According to a study by the Cleantech Group, the carbon footprint of an ebook is about 40-50% lower than that of a printed book. This is because ebooks do not require paper, ink, or transportation, which all contribute to printed books’ carbon footprint.

However, the production and use of electronic devices used to read ebooks, such as e-readers and tablets, also have an environmental impact. These devices require the mining and processing of metals and other materials, as well as the use of electricity. The production of these devices contributes to electronic waste, which can harm the environment if not disposed of properly.

Impact of Printed Books

Printed books also have an environmental impact, particularly in terms of the use of paper and ink. Paper production can lead to deforestation and habitat loss, while ink can be harmful to the environment if not disposed of properly.

However, printed books can also be recycled, which can help reduce their environmental impact. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, paper recycling can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save energy.

Both ebooks and printed books have an environmental impact. The choice between the two depends on various factors, including personal preference, convenience, and environmental concerns. When deciding, it is important to consider the entire lifecycle of both options, including production, use, and disposal.

Additional Features and Drawbacks

Features of ebooks.

One of the most significant features of eBooks is their accessibility. eBook displays and font sizes can be adjusted to accommodate those with impaired sight. This enhances readability and accessibility for those with disabilities. eBooks also offer the ability to search for specific text, highlight, and take notes, making it easier to find and remember important information. Additionally, eBooks take up less physical space, making them ideal for those with limited storage space.

Drawbacks of eBooks

One of the most significant drawbacks of eBooks is the potential for glare and eye strain. Some eBook readers may glare in the sunlight, making reading hard in some settings. Additionally, eBooks require a device to read them, which can be a potential distraction. Some people may also find it difficult to concentrate on reading an eBook due to the potential for notifications and advertisements on their devices.

Features of Printed Books

Printed books offer a tactile experience that eBooks cannot replicate. A book’s weight, texture, and smell can enhance the reading experience for some people. Printed books do not require a reading device, which can reduce potential distractions. Printed books are also more shareable than eBooks, as they can be easily passed on to friends and family.

Drawbacks of Printed Books

One of the most significant drawbacks of printed books is their potential to take up a lot of physical space. This can be a problem for those with limited storage space. Printed books can also be damaged or lost, which can be a significant problem for those who value their books. Additionally, printed books cannot be easily searched for specific text, highlighted or annotated, making it harder to find and remember important information.

eBooks and printed books have unique features and drawbacks. The decision between the two ultimately comes down to personal preference and individual needs.

Popularity and Sales

Popularity of ebooks.

According to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center , the share of American adults who have read an eBook in the previous 12 months has increased from 17% in 2011 to 32% in 2023. The survey also revealed that younger adults (18 to 29-year-olds) are more likely to read eBooks than older adults. However, despite the growth in popularity of eBooks, a survey conducted in 2021 showed that 68% of younger readers (18 to 29-year-olds) in the United States still prefer printed books.

Sales of Printed Books

Despite the growth in popularity of eBooks, printed books continue to dominate the book market. In the United States, for example, 45% of the population bought a printed book last year, compared to only 23% who purchased an eBook. Furthermore, the revenue generated by printed books in the U.S. is still significantly higher than that of eBooks. In January 2023, eBook sales in the U.S. generated $85 million in revenue, while printed books generated $1.1 billion.

Publishers have also reported that printed books continue to outsell eBooks. In 2023, Penguin Random House reported that printed books accounted for 75% of its global revenue, while eBooks accounted for only 25%.

Notes and audiobooks are also popular formats for reading, with audiobooks experiencing significant growth in recent years. However, when comparing eBooks and printed books, printed books remain the more popular and profitable format.

While eBooks have grown in popularity in recent years, printed books dominate the book market in terms of sales and revenue. Younger readers may prefer eBooks, but printed books are still the preferred format for most readers.

Role in Education

Regarding education, the debate between eBooks and printed books is ongoing. Both formats have advantages and disadvantages, and the choice between them depends on individual preferences and needs.

Studies have shown that students tend to concentrate, learn, or remember better with printed books than with digital texts. This is especially true for longer texts, such as textbooks, where print books are superior to eBooks for reading comprehension. However, eBooks have their advantages as well. They are more portable and can be accessed from anywhere, making them a convenient choice for students who are always on the go.

Textbooks are an essential part of education, and the format in which they are presented can significantly impact the learning experience. Printed textbooks provide a tangible and tactile experience that many students find helpful in retaining information. On the other hand, eBooks offer interactive features that can enhance the learning experience, such as embedded videos, animations, and quizzes.

Classics, or books that have stood the test of time are an important part of any education. Printed versions of these books provide a connection to the past and a sense of tradition. However, eBooks offer several advantages when it comes to classics. They are often more affordable and accessible, making them a great option for students who may not have access to a physical library.

Choosing between eBooks and printed books in education depends on individual preferences and needs. Both formats have advantages and disadvantages, and it is up to the individual to decide which is best for them.

Role in the Publishing Industry

Ebook publishing.

eBooks have revolutionized the publishing industry in many ways. They have made it easier for independent authors to publish their work without needing a traditional publishing house. This has led to a rise in self-publishing and the emergence of new authors who may not have been able to break into the industry before. Additionally, eBooks are relatively inexpensive to produce and distribute, which has made it easier for publishers to experiment with new authors and genres.

Amazon has been a major player in the eBook industry with their Kindle platform. They have made it easy for authors to self-publish and distribute their work while providing a platform for traditional publishers to sell their eBooks. The ease of use and accessibility of the Kindle has made it a popular choice for readers, which has further cemented Amazon’s position in the market.

Printed Book Publishing

Printed books have been the traditional format for publishing for centuries and continue to play an important role in the industry. While eBooks have made it easier for independent authors to publish their work, traditional publishers still play a vital role in producing and distributing printed books.

Power in the publishing industry is still largely concentrated in the hands of a few major publishers. These publishers have the resources to invest in marketing and distribution, which can make or break a book’s success. However, the rise of independent publishers and self-publishing has led to a more diverse range of published books, benefiting readers.

Marketing and distribution are key factors in the success of a printed book. Publishers must invest in advertising and promotion to ensure their books reach their target audience. This can be costly, so traditional publishers still hold a significant advantage over independent publishers.

Both eBooks and printed books play important roles in the publishing industry. While eBooks have made it easier for independent authors to publish their work, traditional publishers still have a significant advantage in marketing and distribution. The rise of self-publishing and independent publishers has led to a more diverse range of published books, benefiting readers.

The debate between eBooks and printed books is ongoing, and both formats have pros and cons eBooks are more portable, offer a wider range of customization options, and are often cheaper than printed books. On the other hand, printed books offer a tactile reading experience, are easier on the eyes, and are better for note-taking and cross-referencing.

According to a survey , 45% of people bought a printed book last year, while only 23% bought an eBook. This suggests that many readers still prefer printed books. However, the popularity of eBooks is on the rise, with devices like the Barnes & Noble Nook and Kobo offering readers a wide range of options.

Ultimately, the choice between eBooks and printed books comes from personal preference. Some readers may prefer the convenience of eBooks, while others may enjoy the feel and smell of a physical book. When deciding, it is important to consider factors such as portability, cost, and environmental impact.

Ultimately, whether someone prefers eBooks or printed books, the most important thing is continuing to read and enjoy the written word. See also What Is the Best Time to Read Books? Tips and Insights and The 16 Best Places To Read Books

Related Posts

Watch CBS News

Books vs. e-books: The science behind the best way to read

By Amy Kraft

December 14, 2015 / 6:00 AM EST / CBS News

While browsing the bookstore to buy a gift for that special someone (or yourself), you may be faced with a tough decision: e-books or the old-fashioned kind? Each one has its pros and cons, and choosing the best option depends on a number of factors.

Some of the practical advantages of going digital are obvious: A portable little e-reader can carry an entire library wherever you go, which is great for travelers or those who always want a choice of reading material.

On the other hand, research has been stacking up to show that reading on paper has a number of benefits, too. Plus, there's the nostalgia factor .

"First and foremost, consider the person and their lifelong preferences," Dr. Matthew H. Schneps, director of the Laboratory for Visual Learning, a collaboration between the University of Massachusetts Boston and MIT, told CBS News in an email. "Some people absolutely love the look, smell, and feel of the classical book held in the hand, and such people may not want to give up the sensory experience of reading from a paper book. If the recipient of your gift is someone who is adventurous when it comes to gadgets, but otherwise doesn't read much using traditional books, giving the gift of an e-reader can be a life-changing experience for them."

Here's a look at some of the science to consider before you spring for a Kindle, a Nook or a stack of new hardcovers.

Young, reluctant readers prefer e-readers

A 2014 study published in the journal Library & Information Science Research found that out of 143 10th grade students, most preferred e-readers . Boys and those who did not care much for reading also shared a strong preference for e-readers.

"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.," lead author of the study, Åse Kristine Tveit, told CBS News in an email.

Reading on paper may boost retention

Several small studies suggest that reading on paper instead of an electronic screen is better for memory retention and focus. The Guardian reported on an experiment from Norway where people were given a short story to read either on a Kindle or in a paperback book; when they were quizzed later, those who read the paperback were more likely to remember plot points in the right order.

"When you read on paper you can sense with your fingers a pile of pages on the left growing, and shrinking on the right," the lead researcher, Anne Mangen, of Norway's Stavanger University, told the Guardian. "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."

Paper suits readers with sleep problems and eye strain

High levels of screen luminance from an electronic device can contribute to visual fatigue, a condition marked by tired, itching, burning eyes.

There are also potential considerations for those reading e-books on light-emitting e-readers at night (although a number of e-readers do not use light-emitting screens), Dr. Margaret K. Merga, a reading and education specialist in Australia, told 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 published in the journal PNAS found that reading an e-book before bedtime decreased the production of melatonin, a hormone that preps the body for sleep. E-books also impaired alertness the following day.

E-books help the visually impaired

Individuals with poor eyesight or reading disorders like dyslexia can benefit more from e-books because they provide a range of options for changing the text size and spacing of lines. A 2013 study in the journal PLOS One observed reading comprehension and speed in 103 high school students with dyslexia. The study found that people with dyslexia read more effectively, and with greater ease, when using the e-reader compared with reading on paper.

Schneps, who was the lead author on the paper, said, "What made the difference was the ability of the device to display lines of text that were extremely short (about two or three words per line), as well as its ability to space out the text. When these people read using the modified formatting, their reading instantly improved."

His team has a website where people can preview the effects of some of these features before making a purchase. Try out the interactive tips at readeasy.labvislearn.org .

A fondness for books

Many book-lovers still prefer the traditional option and value the tactile sensation of a bound paper book. "Paper books are, as a rule, very well designed, they look and smell good, and they carry with them a more human touch," Tveit said.

In Merga's experience with students in Australia, avid readers also tend to prefer reading on paper. While conducting the West Australian Study in Adolescent Book Reading (WASABR), Merga and colleagues found that students preferred reading paper books. "One student described this attitude as a preference to 'own something (rather) than just use it,'" Merga said.

More from CBS News

Writers Method

Build your writing practice.

Laptop vs. Pen and Paper: What’s the best way to write fiction? 

When I first started writing, I was at the tender age of ten. We had a family computer, but my dad used it often for work. Not only that, but I wanted to get my writing done on school time – when I was on the clock! Pen and paper ruled my writing practice during those days. 

Then, in high school, I invested in a laptop. My writing practice was transformed. Suddenly, I could write much faster, more easily correct mistakes, and upload my writing to the internet. Truly, we were living in the future. 

But does that mean the humble pen and paper doesn’t have a place in my practice anymore? Of course not! Writing longform is still worthwhile, and many would argue is better than using a laptop. Let’s dig into the debate and talk about laptop vs. pen and paper for writing. 

Pen and paper vs. laptop for writing

Like most things, the real answer is always “somewhere in the middle”. That is, neither method is truly best. When it comes to pen and paper vs. laptop for writing, your preference is going to be dictated by several factors. 

Most writers prefer pen and paper for brainstorming, freewriting, and drafting. When you’re in the idea generation stage, pen and paper allows you to freely structure your thoughts. But when it comes to cranking out pages and chapters, the speed of writing on a computer is ideal. 

There are some, of course, who do things entirely digital, and there are plenty of others who swear by the mighty pen and notebook. Let’s dig into some advantages and disadvantages in the pen and paper vs. laptop debate. 

Advantages of pen and paper for writers 

There are many advantages of pen and paper for writers. We’ll summarize them here, then bullet them for quick-reference. 

The biggest advantage of writing with pen and paper in the modern age is how you minimize distractions in the form of internet access and notifications. Not only that, but you don’t need to charge a notebook, a pen doesn’t run on electricity, and both can be bought cheaply and carried anywhere. 

There is a more spiritual answer to this question, as well. Many writers enjoy the feel of the pen in their hands, the glide of the ink, and the smell and feel of a blank piece of paper. It’s a bit of a communion between you and your muse. 

Pros of writing with pen and paper

• Minimize distractions 
• No battery or wifi worries
• Slows you down

Disadvantages of pen and paper for writers

Of course, there are disadvantages to writing with pen and paper, as well. 

Writing an entire novel on pen and paper is incredibly time-consuming. Not only that, but it’s very difficult to stay organized. You can’t easily search for a certain passage or hit “ctrl+f” to find out what eye color you gave that love interest a few chapters back. You’ll also need to keep your notebook safe from damage. 

The same could be said of a computer, of course, but chances are, you’ll have a copy of your novel backed up on the internet if you’re writing digitally. That way, it can’t get lost. 

And, speaking as someone who has carpal tunnel syndrome, writing longform can be a strain on your hands. 

Cons of writing with pen and paper

• Slows you down 
• Harder to organize
• Hard copy can be damaged or lost 
• Tough on hands 

Advantages of laptops for writers 

Personally, I’m a fan of writing on a laptop, and there are lots of reasons why. 

Writing a novel on a laptop optimizes your workflow. You can type quickly, change formatting of large passages, easily see and correct mistakes, and delete and edit without needing to rewrite. It’s also easier to share your work with your fellow writers who live too far away to offer in-person feedback. 

It’s a little more sterile, of course, but a great word processor rarely lets you down. There are so many useful features that can help a novelist write an organized book.  

Pros of writing with a laptop

• Type faster 
• Spell check and grammar softwares
• Easier to share with others  
• Backed up to the cloud 
• Multi-device access 

Disadvantages of laptops for writers 

Of course, laptops aren’t the end-all, be-all of writing. Many writers greatly prefer to write with pen and paper, and here’s why. 

There are a number of disadvantages to writing with a laptop including cost, battery, eye-strain, distractions from the internet, and more. Aesthetically, they can leave something to be desired. You’re limited by the formatting options on your word processor, so it’s not the best choice for all projects. 

For freewriting and brainstorming sessions, you might prefer to forego your keys in favor of a notebook. There is something so beautiful about a crisp, blank page that really fires up your imagination. You can go with the flow, use whatever format you like, make doodles and flowcharts galore. And best of all – it’s practically free!

A notebook also has the advantage of not being able to connect to social media. Many writers find that wifi-enabled devices are a productivity pitfall . Either turn to pen and paper or write in airplane mode to be safe. 

Is buying a laptop worth it for a writer?

There’s another drawback to writing with technology: the cost. 

One of the biggest drawbacks to laptops for writers is how expensive they can be. Even a basic model will run you a few hundred dollars, and good computers can cost in the thousands. Still, it’s worth it to invest in a cheap laptop like a Chromebook for writers to run simple word processing software. 

Chromebooks are some of the cheapest, most effective laptops for writers on the market right now. If you don’t need to do more than basic web browsing and word processing, you can’t go wrong spending the money on a lightweight, effective Chromebook. They’re easy on the wallet, they have built-in cloud capabilities, and they last forever. 

Cons of writing with a laptop

• Expensive 
• Wifi-enabled devices can be distracting
• Eye strain & bluelight concerns 
• Needs electricity or charged battery 
• Lack of formatting options

Laptop vs. pen and paper – final thoughts

So, what do I reach for when I’m getting down and dirty on a new writing project? When it comes to a laptop versus pen and paper, what’s better for writers and novelists? 

For me, nothing beats the convenience of the laptop. Sure, I love the satisfaction of writing with a pen – and my favorite is, of course, the Pilot v5 in extra fine tip. But as someone with wrist and hand strain concerns, I can’t grip a pen for as long as it takes to write a 2,000 word article, let alone an 80,000 word novel. 

When I’m brainstorming, though, it’s a whole different story. Having a pen and paper with me wherever I go is extremely helpful in the idea phase. You can jot down ideas quickly, and my thoughts flow better when I have to take the time to slow down and write. 

What about you? How do you write? Which format best suits your writing practice ? Click here for more tips on establishing your writing routine . 

• Download PDF (English) XML (English)
• Alt. Display

Opinion Pieces

Screen vs. paper: what is the difference for reading and learning.

• Caroline Myrberg
• Ninna Wiberg

We have all seen the newspaper headlines: screens make us read slower, learn less deeply, remember less and sleep worse. Is this why students prefer to print out their electronic textbooks? We suspected it was habit and attitude rather than measurable cognitive effort during reading that made people prefer print texts, but we needed evidence. We decided to find out what recent research had to say on the subject and read scholarly articles addressing the issues of the actual reading and/or learning processes involved in reading on screen compared to on paper. We then considered these results in relation to our own experience of using tablets and teaching scholars and students how to use their tablets/smartphones in their work.

Habit and attitude appeared to be important, and a digitally born textbook is by far the best alternative to a print textbook when it comes to studying. But even those who prefer to read on screens are originally native paper readers, and as long as the existing application interfaces cannot address the shortcomings of screens regarding spatial landmarks, we will keep returning to paper under certain circumstances.

We would like to see developers make more user-friendly e-readers, and authors and publishers learn to fully utilize of the potential of the e-book.

• reading comprehension
• human computer interaction
• digital literacy

Introduction

It all started with a project at Uppsala University Library in Sweden called ‘Mobile Academics’, where we held seminars on how to use the library’s e-resources on a tablet computer and gave tips on different apps to use when studying. This project led to another seminar about the difference between reading on screen and on paper. To prepare for it, we read scientific articles and picked out a few of those as examples. We chose to focus on the articles that were more current, since studies made on screens from 1985 cannot be compared with the studies made on today’s screens. It is not only the devices that have evolved, either: people have, too. Back in the 1980s not many people owned their own computer, whereas today a great many more people do.

Is it dangerous to read from a screen?

In the early years of the railway, people were seriously concerned about how the speed (18 mph or 30 kmph) would affect the human body. The Lancet published a landmark series of articles about the dangers of railway travel to public health in 1862, and at the same time ‘railway spine’ became a common diagnosis. 1

New inventions do make our lives easier in many ways, but they can also cause worries and troubles – both actual and imaginary. The trains did most certainly cause distress when they first came along and so does new technology today.

These days, no one is diagnosed with ‘railway spine’, but we do get ‘iPad neck’, ‘computer vision syndrome’ and screen-related sleeplessness.

Computer vision syndrome, a temporary condition with symptoms like headaches, fatigue and strained and dry eyes, can be prevented by closing your eyes or looking away from the screen every now and then. Reading on newer tablets with higher pixel densities spares the eyes, too. 2 As with any sedentary work, it is always good to take regular breaks to prevent strain injuries like iPad neck.

It can be advisable to shut off your screen a couple of hours before bedtime, even when you are ‘only reading’, because the blue light of the screen may suppress the body’s production of melatonin, and this can disturb your sleep. Other ways to reduce blue light could be switching to ‘night mode’ in your reading app or installing a programme on your device that makes the colour of the display warmer at night. 3

Is it more difficult to read from a screen?

Kretzschmar et al. did a study in 2013 that compared reading effort on three different media: a paper page, an e-reader (e-ink) and a tablet computer. They studied eye movement, brain activity and reading speed. The participants also answered a few questions to determine reading comprehension. The interesting thing was that all participants said that they preferred reading on paper, even though the study found no support for it being more effortful to read on digital media. On the contrary, the older participants read both faster and with less effort on the tablet computer, due to the back lighting giving a better contrast, and because of this being better for older eyes. 4

But why did all the participants still prefer to read on paper? The authors suggest that it is more about people’s attitude towards the digital media than the actual reading experience: ‘The present findings thereby suggest that the scepticism towards digital reading media … may reflect a general cultural attitude towards reading in this manner rather than measurable cognitive effort during reading.’ 5

A study was undertaken in 2013 with tenth-graders in Norway, where the students were divided into two groups. One group read two texts (1,400–2,000 words) in print and the other group read the same texts as PDFs on a computer screen. In the reading comprehension test that was administered, the students who read on paper scored significantly better than those who read the texts digitally. It was easier for those who read on paper to remember what they had read. Mangen et al. say that this is because paper gives spatio-temporal markers while you read. Touching paper and turning pages aids the memory, making it easier to remember where you read something. Having to scroll on the computer screen makes remembering more difficult. 6

Do you learn less when reading e-texts?

Studies that control for factors like experience and attitude among respondents are uncommon. In a study from 2012 7 , the authors Ackerman and Lauterman let 80 undergraduate engineering students read five texts either on paper or computer screens. After each text they completed a test, but before the test they had to make a prediction on how well they would perform in the test. They studied the texts under three different time conditions: for two texts they were allowed only seven minutes to read (pressured), for two texts they were allowed as much time as they needed (free) and for one text the participants thought they could use as much time as they wanted, but were interrupted after seven minutes (interrupted).

The paper readers generally got better results, but not under the interrupted time condition, for which the results were similar for both groups (see Figure 1 ), which is very interesting because if technology-related factors were what caused the inferior results for the screen-reading group, the results should have been the same under all studying conditions.

Mean test scores and predictions of performance (POP) for the three time conditions for screen and paper learning. Error bars represent the standard errors of the mean. 8

Small differences between prediction of performance and actual test scores means the students made an accurate calibration. A good calibration often leads to better results simply because you do not stop studying too soon. As shown in Figure 1 paper readers generally make a better calibration than the screen readers, who tend to be more overconfident.

The results of this study show that the problem with screen reading is more psychological than technological. But the study also argues that medium preferences matter, since those who studied on their preferred medium showed both less overconfidence and got better test scores.

Two years later Lauterman and Ackerman did another study 9 to see if it is possible to overcome screen inferiority in learning and calibration. This time they let the students read six texts on either a computer screen or paper. The students were allowed seven minutes to read each text.

In the first pair of tests, the participants who studied on screen performed just as poorly compared to those who read on paper as in the study from 2012. But in the third test, already the screen readers who preferred reading from screens were getting scores similar to the scores of those who had read the texts from paper. Their calibration – the difference between the actual test scores and their prediction of performance – also got better and better for each text (see Figure 2 ). So, yes, it was possible to overcome screen inferiority in learning and calibration – but only for those who preferred reading from screens. They became less overconfident and got higher scores after only a few tests.

Mean test scores and predictions of performance (POP) for the three text pairs by their study order for on-screen learners (OSL) preferring screen. 10

What is the point of e-books?

There are many benefits of e-books, such as being able to access many books without carrying a heavy load. But as studies have shown, people still choose paper over screen. One big problem is that e-books are made to be read like a linear text, so the possibilities of the digital medium are not being utilized. The e-book just turns into a copy of the printed version, and why would anyone want to read a digital version if they are more comfortable reading a printed version?

In one study, a comparison was made between how well students learnt by using course material in paper format and the same material made into seven web pages, with no scrolling being needed. The paper format had a dictionary and study questions at the back, while the web pages had implemented a dictionary that was enabled by a mouse-over function, and the questions were placed next to the text where the answers could be found. The participants completed a knowledge test of 24 questions after reading their texts, and the web page group scored better on 18 of those questions, and significantly better (90% or higher) on six. So enhancing the electronic text instead of just turning it into a copy of the printed version seems to have helped the students to score higher on the test. 11

These students also had a brainstorming session on the future of study material. Most of the students said they preferred a web page or a computer programme over books, but they still thought that the written word was the best way to gain knowledge. The students wanted a total experience from their course material, with the texts being shorter and including a better overview, and being enhanced with video, sound, interactive tests and games. They also wanted their course material to be integrated with social media so they could stay connected with their peers and teachers, and they wanted their teachers to be able to update the material. 12

Are the users ready?

Last year, graduate students and faculty in science and engineering at the University of Kansas were asked about their e-book usage and preferences. 13

Within the whole population, students and faculty, almost 40% preferred e-books. But among those of the respondents who primarily read on e-readers/tablets, 52% preferred reading on screens. Discomfort or difficulty in reading e-books on a screen was stated as the main reason they did not like reading e-books. Except for a preference for reading print books, 43% of the respondents said they were discouraged from using e-books because there are no relevant e-books available, 30% had difficulties in finding e-books and 15% were not aware that e-books were available at all. Interestingly, preferences were quite different between the departments. Physics & Astronomy had the highest preference for print books (80%), while the departments within the School of Pharmacy had the highest preference for e-books (59%). The authors suggest that the reason for this ‘may be the curricular requirement to use the e-book collection, e.g. AccessPharmacy.’ 14

Does this mean that when our patrons have to read e-books, they get used to them, discover their benefits and start to like them? Since most libraries cannot afford to purchase all books in each format some users will have to read books on a medium other than their preferred one. So, while tablets are rapidly becoming everyman’s property, perhaps libraries should purchase more e-books instead of print books. Then, if we manage to make them accessible to our users, perhaps there will eventually be no problem?

Is the technology ready?

Many e-books at academic libraries have digital rights management (DRM) systems that restrict and complicate the downloading to tablets so much that some users avoid reading the e-books at all. On some e-book platforms, you have to use Bluefire Reader for downloading books, even if you’re an Android user, which is not ideal. Then if you do manage to download and locate the PDF file on your device, you can only use it for a few days and then you have to go through the whole downloading procedure again. But then all your notes and bookmarks will be gone. Then you try to read the e-book online, where you have to create another personal account to be able to save your notes and bookmarks. The online ebrary reader, for example, is by no means suitable for tablet browsers in any case: the text can appear rather blurry and you cannot highlight or underline any text at all, because when you try, you just move the whole text sideways.

Generally, the apps for e-reading lack the ability to present essential spatial landmarks, they give poor feedback on your progress as you read, and make it difficult for you to plan your reading since they do not show how much is left of the chapter/book in a direct and transparent way. Other drawbacks are that usually, the reading applications do not sync between devices and it is not always possible to adjust the text to the screen. Granted, you can reflow PDFs in most PDF readers, but then you cannot make any notes and all tables and pictures will disappear from the text.

There are exceptions, but the more user-friendly apps we have tried do not support DRM and can therefore not be used to read library e-books.

How will we read in the future?

You need to get used to a new type of medium before you can use it to its full potential, and feel comfortable doing so. Today, 57% of all two-year-olds in Sweden are using the internet – most of them on a tablet computer. 15 Those children are used to the technology, but that is not enough to master the art of digital reading. We think that the way children are taught to read and study in school is vital. If schools were able to integrate digital learning better, it would probably make it easier for those students to use e-books, and make them want to use them instead of print. Digital literacy will be an essential skill as more tests (such as Sweden’s nationwide school tests and exams) become available only in digital form – and if tests are only available in digital form, it might be more difficult for some just because they are not comfortable with the format.

In 2013 the medical student Joshua Harding spoke at the UKSG Conference in Bournemouth. 16 He was completely paperless – he had all his notes and his books on his iPad – but most students are not there yet, and we believe there will be a mixed behaviour for many years to come. As long as we are not all native digital readers, there will be occasions when most of us will be more comfortable reading printed text, for example, when proofreading.

More native paper readers will choose e-books when the online reading platforms and reading applications for tablets and smartphones are more user friendly and compensate for the lack of spatial landmarks that many native paper readers experience when they try to read e-texts.

When you can easily find and download a suitable e-book, that also utilizes all the possibilities that the electronic medium offers and is not just a direct translation from print, that may be the day when all students will prefer e-books.

Competing interests

The authors have declared no competing interests.

Milne-Smith, A (2013). Madmen on the Railways: Careering Towards Disaster Western Conference on British Studies. http://www.academia.edu/4755351/Madmen_onthe_Railways_Careering_Towards_Disaster (accessed 10 April 2015).  

Barthakur, R (2013). Computer Vision Syndrome Internet Journal of Medical Update 8(2): 1–2.  

Kresser, C (2013). How Artificial Light Is Wrecking Your Sleep, and What to Do About It February 22 2013 Chris Kresser – Let’s Take Back Your Health – Starting Now: http://chriskresser.com/how-artificial-light-is-wrecking-your-sleep-and-what-to-do-about-it (accessed 26 March 2015).  

Kretzschmar, F, Pleimling, D, Hosemann, J, Füssel, S, Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, I and Schlesewsky, M (2013). Subjective Impressions Do Not Mirror Online Reading Effort: Concurrent EEG-eyetracking Evidence From the Reading of Books and Digital Media PLOS ONE 8(2): e56178. DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0056178 (accessed 5 June 2015).  

Kretzschmar, F, Pleimling, D, Hosemann, J, Füssel, S, Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, I and Schlesewsky, M (2013). Subjective Impressions Do Not Mirror Online Reading Effort: Concurrent EEG-eyetracking Evidence From the Reading of Books and Digital Media PLOS ONE 8(2): 8. DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0056178 (accessed 5 June 2015).  

Mangen, A, Walgermo, B R and Brønnick, K (2013). Reading Linear Texts on Paper Versus Computer Screen: Effects on Reading Comprehension International Journal of Educational Research 58: 61–68, DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2012.12.002  

Ackerman, R and Lauterman, T (2012). Taking Reading Comprehension Exams on Screen or on Paper? A Metacognitive Analysis of Learning Texts under Time Pressure Computers in Human Behavior 28(5): 1816–1828, DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.04.023  

Ackerman, R and Lauterman, T (2012). Taking Reading Comprehension Exams on Screen or on Paper? A Metacognitive Analysis of Learning Texts under Time Pressure Computers in Human Behavior 28(5): 1816–1823, DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.04.023  

Lauterman, T and Ackerman, R (2014). Overcoming Screen Inferiority in Learning and Calibration Computers in Human Behavior 35: 455–463, DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.02.046  

Lauterman, T and Ackerman, R (2014). Overcoming Screen Inferiority in Learning and Calibration Computers in Human Behavior 35: 461. DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.02.046  

Stoop, J, Kreutzer, P and Kircz, J G (2013). Reading and Learning from Screens Versus Print: A Study in Changing Habits: Part 2 – Comparing Different Text Structures on Paper and on Screen New Library World 114(9/10): 371–383, DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1108/NLW-04-2013-0034  

Waters, J, Roach, J, Emde, J, McEathron, S and Russell, K (2014). A Comparison of E-book and Print Book Discovery, Preferences, and Usage by Science and Engineering Faculty and Graduate Students at the University of Kansas Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship , DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5062/F48G8HN5 (Winter).  

Findahl, O (). The Swedes and the Internet 2014 A yearly report from .SE (Internet Infrastructure Foundation) that maps change and development in internet use among the Swedish population, http://en.soi2014.se/ (accessed 10 April 2015).  

Harding, J (). The Student-Information Relationship, UKSG Conference 2013 DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1629/2048-7754.104 UKSGLIVE: https://youtu.be/j-QmslBH7NY (accessed 5 June 2015).  

Compare and Contrast Essay: Ebooks vs. Physical Textbooks

E-Books have been taking over Universities and other schooling systems all around the world. What’s the big deal? It seems like the world is split on whether we should remain to the physical hard copy books or make the switch to textbooks on any electronic source that allows it. With all of these textbook changes going on all around the world, we have to make a choice. Which is better? E-Books or physical textbooks? Physical textbooks allow for less glare, no notification distractions, and it forces you to remember it’s there. 

Physical textbooks allow for less glare. Glare is a pain for anyone who is trying to read small text font! Everyone has had the painful experience of sitting down with the text on an electronic device and seeing a lightbulb reflection and glare dead center on the screen. The physical text has little to no glare at all in these brightly lit rooms that E-Books would have. Glare is a pain to read through and it can be heavily distracting. When you have a physical textbook, you will not need to think about glare and how it will affect the reading of your next paragraph. Some people might disagree and say how it is not a huge deal while reading and it is just a quick adjustment. This can be overlooked by the fact that many "quick adjustments" to get glare off the screen, turns into a big adjustment overall and a distraction. 

Physical textbooks allow for no notification distractions. Have you ever been reading an E-Book and you get a text from one of your friends? Most normal people would instantly stop reading and click over to the text message to read what it says. This is a major distraction and can lead to forgetting what you were reading about. Especially if you are using a book to study, this can be a major setback. Notifications are an enemy while studying and reading due to their mysterious, and high important nature. You do not know what the text is about until you click on it, therefore most people click on notifications without even finishing the sentence they are reading. Some people might add that there is a way to get rid of notifications while studying on an electronic device. This might be true, but Amber Alerts can still come through if notifications are off. Also, physical textbooks do not have any electronic pop-ups. One more great thing about physical textbooks is the fact that there are no settings to make notifications turn off because there will never be any! 

Physical textbooks force you to remember that it’s there. Physical textbooks sit on your desk or in your room and it forces you to look at them. Whenever someone is forced to look at something it makes them think about it. E-Books are in an application or a website, and you are not forced to look at them directly. This is a major disadvantage of E-Books in my opinion. The best way to remember something is to have it nearby. Physical textbooks are usually always nearby and ready to be opened at any time. E-Books can be lost on the internet and be forgotten about until your final exam comes up! Some people might set reminders to remind themselves to read their E-Books, but that is a lot less efficient and takes more work. 

As you can tell, physical books are more efficient and perform better than E-Books. The world is slowly changing to E-Books, but I do not think that physical books will ever go away. Physical textbooks allow for less glare, no notification distractions, and it forces you to remember it’s there. These are just some of the reasons E-Books cannot compare!

Related Samples

• Argumentative Essay: Three Month Summer Break Provides More Benefits
• Essay On Sun
• Technology in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Book Analysis)
• Pig's Head Symbol in Lord of the Flies Essay Sample
• Argumentative Essay on Against School Dress Code
• The Giver by Lois Lowry Book Analysis
• Excerpt from Mr. Revere and I Literature Essay Example
• Baby Suggs In Toni Morrison's Beloved Essay Example
• Theme of the Power of Words: "the Book Thief"
• Uncertainty by David Lindley Book Review

Didn't find the perfect sample?

You can order a custom paper by our expert writers

• India Today
• Business Today
• Reader’s Digest
• Harper's Bazaar
• Brides Today
• Cosmopolitan
• Aaj Tak Campus
• India Today Hindi

Technology vs Textbooks: 6 differences to help you make the right choice

Technology vs textbooks is an important debate now as both have their own pros and cons in imparting education. parents should sit together with their kids and decide which path would be the right choice for them..

Listen to Story

The digital tools inclusive of the tablets, smart boards, and internet are a pathway to holistic learning experience for students. With the numerous advantages of technological intervention in education, there are some disadvantages as well.

Tablets are an excellent learning tool which enables the students to learn innovatively, collaborate and share information. The incorporation of technology in school still foster skepticism in schools due to several factors including health issues, lack of human touch, ability of schools in rural, Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities to adopt to and switch to technology-driven learning.

1. Accessibility to latest content

I have always been a book worm. When I was eight, I even won an award for "being an avid, spontaneous reader" (my reward was a book — a beautifully illustrated version of " The Secret Garden " by Frances Hodgson Burnett).

Growing up, my room was full of shelves upon shelves of paperbacks and hardcovers. I kept a journal to remember all the books I had read. I scorned people who bent the corners of pages instead of using a bookmark, I couldn't imagine marking up a book with a pen or highlighter, I hated when book spines cracked or covers bent.

When ebooks came on the scene, I thought they were ridiculous. Why would I want to read on a digital device when I could hold a lovely physical book, when I could smell the pages and have the satisfaction of turning real pages? I was, in short, a book fanatic.

I tell you all this because I'm never not surprised that I am now an ebook evangelist.

It all started when I (accidentally) became a tech reporter and I started to review e-readers. At first, I disliked having to test them and eagerly awaited going back to my paperbacks, but then I started traveling a lot for work and something clicked: Ebooks are good!

Ebooks vs. books: Why are ebooks better?

• They are much more portable than physical books, so you can carry dozens if not hundreds or thousands of them around with you on a device that weighs less than half a pound.
• You can download them in a matter of minutes so you don't have to wait for them to be delivered if you ordered them online.
• You don't have to go to the store to buy them.
• They are never out of stock because they are digital files.
• You can get many ebooks for free from Project Gutenberg , Amazon , and your local library .
• Ebooks often go on sale, so you can get bestsellers for $1 to $5. You can follow BookBub for deal alerts.
• They come with fun features like sharing highlighted quotations on social media, looking up words in the dictionary as you read, digital bookmarks, and much more.

Convinced yet? You should be! Now that I've got you, here's some more information on where to buy ebooks, where to get free ebooks, and which e-readers are the best ones.

Where to buy ebooks

You can read ebooks with or without an e-reader — all you need is a smartphone or tablet. Here is a list of places where you can buy ebooks:

• Amazon is the obvious choice. The Kindle Store has millions of ebooks, including bestsellers, exclusives, and classics. 
• Kobo is the other main alternative to Amazon's Kindle Store. It also has millions of ebooks, including all the best sellers you could want.
• Barnes & Noble's Nook Store has a large selection of ebooks, too. You can read them in the Nook app for iOS or Android.
• Apple's Books Store  is another great option for anyone who wants to read on their iPad or iPhone and doesn't think they'll ever get an e-reader.
• The Google Play Book Store is great for Android users who aren't interested in buying an e-reader, either.

You can also check out ebook subscription apps like Scribd and Kindle Unlimited , both of which I've tried personally and love. Essentially, for a flat rate of about $12 a month, you can read as many ebooks as you want. Scribd also offers magazines and audiobooks.

Where to download free ebooks

It's easy to find free ebooks from a variety of sources. My favorite avenue is the Libby app from Overdrive, which gives me access to all the ebooks I can borrow from my local library. Although I sometimes have to wait for a title to be available, it's a wonderful resource.

When it comes to classics, you can get many of them free from Amazon or Project Gutenberg. I've used both often.

• Amazon offers thousands of classic ebooks (like "Pride and Prejudice") for free.
• For Prime subscribers, Amazon's Prime Reading Library is another great resource for free ebooks.
• You can also borrow ebooks from the Kindle Lending Library if you own a Kindle e-reader.
• Project Gutenberg has around 57,000 free ebooks, including classics like "Pride and Prejudice," "The Odyssey," "Moby Dick," and more.
• Overdrive and its app Libby ( iOS and Android ) give you access to free ebooks that you can borrow from your local library.

Guillermo Garzon/Business Insider

What is the best e-reader .

I have strong opinions about e-readers . I personally think the Amazon Kindle Oasis (8GB) is worth its high cost of $280. However, I fully acknowledge that's not a reasonable price for most people (I just read too much and can't live without page-turning buttons). Most people will be more than happy with the mid-range Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2018) or the basic Amazon Kindle.

If you prefer to have an e-reader from a company that's not Amazon, Kobo's e-readers are excellent. I like the budget-friendly Kobo Clara HD , the waterproof Kobo Libra H2O , and the large-screened Kobo Forma .

Now go forth and read ebooks!

Subscribe to our newsletter. You can purchase syndication rights to this story here. Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at [email protected] .

• Main content

student teacher dissertation

BYU ScholarsArchive

Home > Education > Teacher Education > Theses and Dissertations

Teacher Education Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2024 2024.

The Role of Instructors in Fostering a Sense of Belonging for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander University Students , Kehaulani Oleole Malzl

Theses/Dissertations from 2023 2023

Navigating the Unfamiliar: The Lived Experience of Elementary School Teachers as They Navigate the Use of New Literacies During a Global Pandemic , Sydney Boyer

Critical Engagements with Award Winning Picturebooks: My Journey in Creating a More Equitable Classroom Library , Carrie Elizabeth Crowe

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Crossing the Threshold: Factors That Influence the Beliefs of First Year Teachers Regarding Reform-Based Mathematics Instruction , Quinn H. Braden

Mediation in a Science Classroom , David Ray Davis

Tensions and Pitfalls in the Depiction of Multiracial Characters in Children's Picture Books: A Critical Content Analysis , Melody Green

Physical Place and Online Space: Permeability, Embodiment, and Gender in Two Online, Synchronous Critical Multicultural Teacher Education Courses , Elizabeth Finlayson Harris

Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating a Unit That Utilizes Effective History Teaching Practices , Haley Holland

Teachers' Values for the Reduction of Teacher Attrition in Utah Public Schools , Forrest Jensen

The Racial Reckoning of a Chinese American Teacher During the COVID-19 Pandemic , Alicia Luong

Creating an Instrument to Explore the Self-Efficacy of Writing Instructors to Teach Apprehensive Writers , Kathleen Marie Romrell

Teacher Judgment Accuracy of Student Perceptions of Closeness and Conflict in Teacher-Student Relationships , Collin Seastrand

The Effects of Relatedness Support on Motivational Profiles in Rural vs. Urban Physical Education Students , Corbin D. Stringam

Bittersweet Experiences for Brazilian Newcomers: Positive Interactions, Microaggressions, and Isolation in English-Only and Dual Language Bilingual Education Programs , Rose Renee Whitney

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

The Relationship Between the Use of Curriculum Materials and Inquiry-Based Pedagogy , Laura Jo Elzinga

Something Happened: Exploring Student Religious Experiences Through the Eyes of Their Teacher , Jason Bird Pearson

Developing a Professional Early Childhood Educator Identity: The Experiences of Three Teachers , Amy Shakespeare White

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Damsel in Distress or Princess in Power? Traditional Masculinity and Femininity in Young Adult Novelizations of Cinderella and the Effects on Agency , Rylee Carling

Teacher Lore Concerning Teaching English Language Learners in Urban Schools: A Reciprocal Determinist Analysis , Helen Clare Colby

The Emergence of Teacher Self in the Elementary Classroom , Chelsea Cole

Exploring Teacher Beliefs of Adolescent Developmental Needs Through Positive Student Comments of their Teachers , Elizabeth Bowers Hinchcliff

Teaching Second-Grade Students to Write Expository Text , Angenette Cox Imbler

Exploring Dialogue Journals as a Context for Connecting with and Supporting the Emotional Lives of Fourth Graders , Samantha Simone Johnson

The Effect of Ethnic Identity on Motivation to bePhysically Active in Schools in Hawai’i , Nathan A. K. Kahaiali'i

Ninth-Grade Students' Motivation for Reading and Course Choice , McKenna Lyn Simmons

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Uncovering One Teacher's Knowledge of Arts Integration for Developing English Learners' Reading Comprehension: A Self-Study , Tina RaLinn McCulloch

A Content Analysis of Scientific Practices in a Fourth-Grade Commercial Literacy Program , Hailey A. Oswald

Reading Fluency and GoNoodle© Brain Breaks Among Elementary-Aged Children , Hannah Jeanne Wold

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Friendship and Language: How Kindergarteners Talk About Making Friends in a Two-Way Immersion School , Sionelle Nicole Beller

Lunchtime Experiences and Students' Sense of Belonging in Middle School , Anna Elisabeth Hinton

Perceptions of School Uniforms in Relation to Socioeconomic Statuses , Aaron B. Jones

The Operationalization of the Theoretical Antecedents of Collective Teacher Efficacy , Kathryn A. Larsen

Teacher Experiences in Highly Impacted Schools That Produce Happiness , Brittany Nicole Lund

Identifying Elements of Voice and Fostering Voice Development in First-Grade Science Writing , McKenna Lucille Maguet

Promoting Pleasure in Reading Through Sustained Silent Reading: A Self-Study of Teacher Practices , Kimberly Turley McKell

Sixth-Grade Elementary and Seventh- and Eighth-Grade Middle School Teachers' Knowledge and Beliefs About Science Literacy , Melissa P. Mendenhall

Building Procedural Fluency from Conceptual Understanding in Equivalence of Fractions: A Content Analysis of a Textbook Series , Mark S. Nance

Ethnic Identity and School Belonging Among Pacific Islander High School Students , Mari N. Oto

Self-Study of a Teacher's Practices of and Experience with Emotion Regulation , Lauren Elyse Paravato

Cultural Connections in the Classroom and Pacific Islander Students Value of Reading , Lyndsai K. Sylva

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Parent Perception of Systemic Success in Physical Education: A Study of Advocacy in Action , Rachel Valletta Griffiths

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Student Self-Assessment: Teachers' Definitions, Reasons, and Beliefs , Christopher Daren Andrews

What is Being Said about Historical Literacy in Literacy and Social Studies Journals: A Content Analysis , Kiera Beddes

A High School Biology Teacher's Development Through a New Teaching Assignment Coupled with Teacher-Led Professional Development , Lorien Young Francis

Emotions in Teaching: Self-Compassion , Stacey Freeman

Physical Activity Rates and Motivational Profiles of Adolescents While Keeping a Daily Leisure-Time Physical Activity Record , Matthew Osden Fullmer

Distraction, Enjoyment, and Motivation During an Indoor Cycling Unit of High School Physical Education , Kelsey Higginson

A Look at the Reliability of an Early Childhood Expository Comprehension Measure , Alta Adamma McDonald

Invisible Students: A Case Study of Friendless Students During the First Year of Junior High , Rachel E. Neeley

Picture Books as Mentor Texts for 10th-Grade Struggling Writers , David Willett Premont

Effects of Fourth- and First-Grade Cross-Age Tutoring on Mathematics Anxiety , Camille Margarett Rougeau

An Analysis of Support for Elementary Engineering Education Offered in the Science Teacher Journal Science and Children , Tawnicia Meservy Stocking

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Dyad Reading Experiences of Second-Grade English Learners with Fiction and Nonfiction Texts , Michelle Lynn Klvacek

Orchestrating Mathematical Discussions: A Novice Teacher's Implementation of Five Practices to Develop Discourse Orchestration in a Sixth-Grade Classroom , Jeffrey Stephen Young

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Parent Reasons for Enrollment at One Dual-Language Chinese Immersion Elementary School Program , Aaron W. Andersen

Effects of Teacher-to-Student Relatedness on Adolescent Male Motivation in Weight-Training Classes , Zack E. Beddoes

The Effects of Music on Physical Activity Rates of Junior High Physical Education Students , Lindsey Kaye Benham

What Matters Most? The Everyday Priorities of Teachers of English Language Learners , Johanna Boone

PE Central: A Possible Online Professional Development Tool , Amber M. Hall

Determining the Reliability of an Early Expository Comprehension Assessment , Tammie Harding

The Relationship Between Health-Related Fitness Knowledge, Perceived Competence, Self-Determination, and Physical Activity Behaviors of High School Students , Elizabeth Bailey Haslem

Supporting Ongoing Language and Literacy Development of Adolescent English Language Learners , Jason T. Jay

Components of Effective Writing Content Conferences in a Sixth-Grade Classroom , Paul Ricks

Online Student Discussions in a Blended Learning Classroom: Reconciling Conflicts Between a Flipped Instruction Model and Reform-Based Mathematics , Lewis L. Young

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

An Investigation of the Effects of Integrating Science and Engineering Content and Pedagogy in an Elementary School Classroom , Katie Nicole Barth

Alignment Between Secondary Biology Textbooks and Standards for Teaching English Learners: A Content Analysis , Joseph H. Hanks

Content Analysis of New Teacher Induction and Mentoring Documents in Five Partnership Districts: Reflections and Acknowledgments of Complexity , Carol S. Larsen

Stories of Success: Three Latino Students Talk About School , Carol Ann Litster

Effects of Fourth- and Second-Grade Cross-Age Tutoring on Spelling Accuracy and Writing Fluency , Rebekkah J. Mitchell

The United States Growth over 16 Years of Student Correct Responses on the TIMSS: Are We Really That Far Behind? , Jacob Michael Zonts

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

A Content Analysis of Family Structure in Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1930 -- 2010 , Shannon Marie Despain

A Content Analysis of Inquiry in Third Grade Science Textbooks , Rebecca Adams Lewis

Science Self-Efficacy and School Transitions: Elementary School to Middle School and Middle School to High School , Brandi Lue Lofgran

Balancing Support and Challenge within the Mentoring Relationship , Tiffanie Joy Miley

Explicitly Teaching Multiple Modes of Representation in Science Discourse: The Impact on Middle School Science Student Learning , Ryan Nixon

Navigating the Changing Face of Beginning Reading Instruction: Am I Right Back Where I Started? , DeAnna M. Perry

Teacher Definitions of Integration in Primary Grades , Jeanne Sperry Prestwich

Effective Professional Development: A Study of a Teacher-Initiated, Interdisciplinary Professional Learning Community , Mary Ann Quantz

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

An Examination of the Effects of Using Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy to Teach Tier 3 Students to Read Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) Words , Esther Marshall

Two Marginalized Adolescents Using the Internet to Complete an Inquiry Project , Jennifer Thomas

Describing the Reading Motivation of Four Second-Grade Students with Varying Abilities. , Kathy Jane White

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

Establishing Reliability of Reading Comprehension Ratings of Fifth-Grade Students' Oral Retellings , Laura Elizabeth Bernfeld

The Nature of Classroom Instruction and Physical Environments That Support Elementary Writing , Monica Thomas Billen

Understanding the Tensions That Exist Between Two Co-Teachers Education Classroom Using Positioning , Garth Gagnier

A Challenging and Rewarding Process: Implementing Critical Literacy Instruction in a Middle School Classroom , Amy Michelle Geilman

The Nature of Transfer from the Concepts and Vocabulary Taught in a Character Education Unit to Students Classroom Discourse , Marianne E. Gill

Mathematics Vocabulary and English Learners: A Study of Students' Mathematical Thinking , Hilary Hart

Adolescent Literate Identity Online: Individuals and the Discourse of a Class Wiki , Amanda J. McCollum

The Stories of Three High School English Teachers Involved in a Collaborative Study Group , Marjoire Ralph

Narrating the Literate Identities of Five Ninth Grade Boys on the School Landscape , Mary Frances Rice

Comparing the Pedagogical Thinking of More Successful and Less Successful Adult ESL Instructors Using Stimulated Recall , Jason Paul Roberts

Elements of Professional Development That Influenced Change in Elementary Teachers' Writing Instruction , Jill Brown Shumway

Identifying Social Studies Content Embedded inElementary Basal Readers , Wendy Taylor Workman

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Examining the Effects of Explicit Teaching of Context Clues in Content Area Texts , Jessie Ruth Jensen

Using Web-Based Tools to Mentor Novice Teachers in Literacy Instruction , Teresa Moore Jordan

A Closer Look at One Elementary School's Use of Informational Text in Classroom Instruction , Marjean Sorensen

Deepening Understanding of Science Content Through Text Structure Instruction , Karen Thomas

An Investigation of the Support for Literacy Instruction in Elementary Mathematics Textbooks , Wendy Ann Williams

Advanced Search

• Notify me via email or RSS

ScholarsArchive ISSN: 2572-4479

• Collections
• Disciplines
• Scholarly Communication
• Additional Collections
• Academic Research Blog

Author Corner

Hosted by the.

• Harold B. Lee Library

Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement

Privacy Copyright

Viral Video Shows Nevada Teacher Knock Down 18-Year-Old Who Reportedly Called Him a Racial Slur; Black Students Launch GoFundMe, Say Teacher Acted In Self Defense

A Nevada substitute teacher was arrested for getting into a physical scuffle with a student, according to several reports. 

Video obtained by News 3 shows the teacher going head to head with the student in the hallway at Valley High School in Las Vegas on Thursday. The student and the teacher could be seen throwing jabs at one another until the teen fell to the ground. The adult appeared to stand over the teen but eventually walked away from the area, surrounded by other students.

“I see a teacher fighting a student, I’m like ‘wow,'” Andrew Acevez  told KTNV . “And then the teacher is just standing over him, just slapping him, saying stuff to him, and I’m like, ‘wow, that’s crazy.'”

The teacher was identified as 27-year-old Re’Kwon Smith, who has been employed with the district since last fall.

Now, police say, he is no longer allowed to be a sub in the Clark County School District (CCSD), adding that he was “removed” from the “substitute pool.” The teen was hospitalized after the incident. 

Smith was housed at the local detention center. Jail records viewed by Atlanta Black Star show Smith was charged with assault of a student on school property, threatening to harm a public school student, battery resulting in bodily harm, and interfering with a student attending school. 

News 3’s Cristen Drummond reported via post on X that Smith was released on the condition that he stay away from school property, have no contact with the victim, and avoid trouble. He is expected to appear in court in late May. 

Re’Kwon Smith,27, makes his first appearance in court. He is accused of getting into a fist fight with a Valley High School student. He is being released from custody with no bail. Certain conditions of his release include: 1. Stay out of trouble (no new arrests or citations)… pic.twitter.com/ROyBF2OSJz — Cristen Drummond (@CristenDrummond) April 26, 2024

The fight reportedly erupted after the student called Smith the N-word. After the altercation, the student allegedly said, “you’re going to jail [slur],” per KVVU-TV Officials notified the community and media that the investigation is ongoing. 

“CCSD does not tolerate violence of any kind. Violence in any form is unacceptable and goes against the fundamental principles of education and respect,” the district said in a statement. “Any altercation between a teacher and a student is thoroughly investigated, and appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”

Two individuals named Anthony and E’mmonie, who identify themselves as high school students, have  created a GoFundMe page for Smith’s legal expenses. They state that he acted in self-defense and offered more details of the incident.

“Mr. Smith had engaged in a physical altercation with another student who is of age (meaning he’s 18). During passing period Mr. Smith and the student were walking up the ramp. The 18 year old student proceeds to call Mr. Smith (a black male) a racial slur (n gg r). Moments after Mr. Smith was called a racial slur. The student starts to swing on him causing a few slaps in the face and a ripped shirt. Then Mr. Smiths start to defend himself by punching the student multiple times till he is on the floor. Then Mr. Smith proceeds to say “ you lost your mind boy “.”

As of Friday night, the page had raised over $3,700. 

“There has been multiple racial incidents at this school and there has been no action taken by any administration to stop it,” the caption said. “It would be greatly appreciated if anyone could help donate for his bail because we as a community feel as if Mr. Smith should have justice and be supported and his story should be heard.”

Related Stories

‘You Arresting a Kid?’: Viral Video Appears to Show D.C. Police Pull Black Teen’s Pants Down And Complete Invasive Search with Flashlight; Police Say Things Aren’t What They Seem

‘The Privilege Is Absolutely Disgusting’: Video of White New York D.A. Cursing Out Cops and Ignoring Commands In Traffic Stop Sparks Outrage

‘Use the Restroom in the Back of the Plane’: Retired Black Judge Seated In First Class Claims American Airlines Crew Member Threatened Her with Arrest Over Lavatory Use

Crime and Courts

Ex-nj teacher arrested for alleged sexual assault of middle school student he taught, by nbc new york staff • published april 29, 2024 • updated on april 29, 2024 at 12:32 pm.

A former teacher in New Jersey was arrested for sexually assaulting a middle school student in his class in 2022, according to law enforcement.

Jeffrey Munguia was arrested Wednesday after an investigation into an allegation of sexual abuse, the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office said. The 32-year-old Munguia, of North Bergen, was charged with second-degree sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

According to an investigation, Munguia was the victim's teacher at Carteret Middle School when the alleged incident occurred in 2022.

An investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information regarding the incident or the suspect is asked to call the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Special Victims Unit at (732) 745-3652.

Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.

This article tagged under:

•   Weather

Search location by ZIP code

Student accused of stabbing kipp academy staff member several times, lynn police say.

• Copy Link Copy {copyShortcut} to copy Link copied!

GET LOCAL BREAKING NEWS ALERTS

The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox.

A student stabbed a staff member several times Monday at a school in Lynn, Massachusetts, police said.

Police were called to KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate at 20 Wheeler St., where they found that a staff member had been stabbed multiple times by a student, officials said.

The student, Larnel Jean Eustach, 18, of Chelsea, left the school before police arrived, officials said. Eustach was later found and taken into custody after a brief pursuit, police said.

The victim, whose name was not released, was taken to a local hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Witnesses told WCVB's Ted Wayman the confrontation was between the 18-year-old student and an assistant principal outside a bathroom on the fourth floor following a confrontation over the student vaping in a boys bathroom.

"He went crazy on her, you know?" Amari Encarcion, a KIPP Academy student said. "I don't even want to go too much into details on that. It's very tragic."

"I was in the hallway just waiting and then I saw (the student) start running down the stairs," another unidentified student at KIPP Academy said. "I knew something was up, so I ran upstairs and to check out the scenery and see if I could help."

"The campus was placed in a secure and hold status in order to maintain the safety of all, and families were immediately notified," Nikki Barnes, executive director of KIPP Massachusetts, said.

Parents were sent a text alert and quickly rushed to the school to see if their kids were OK.

"Scary thing to happen," Lori Haggy said. "I'm a teacher myself, so it's scary that, you know, our kids are getting to this point that they're feeling violent."

School was later dismissed for the day.

"The safety of our students and staff is our number one priority. We will continue to partner with the Lynn Police Department to prioritize student and staff safety and well-being. Our focus at this time is on supporting our community; we are mobilizing counseling and additional support services for students, faculty and staff today and will continue to provide these supports in the days ahead," Barnes said.

Eustache was charged with assault with intent to murder, mayhem, assault with a dangerous weapon and other related offenses.

He was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Lynn District Court.

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Biden Administration Releases Revised Title IX Rules

The new regulations extended legal protections to L.G.B.T.Q. students and rolled back several policies set under the Trump administration.

By Zach Montague and Erica L. Green

Reporting from Washington

The Biden administration issued new rules on Friday cementing protections for L.G.B.T.Q. students under federal law and reversing a number of Trump-era policies that dictated how schools should respond to cases of alleged sexual misconduct in K-12 schools and college campuses.

The new rules, which take effect on Aug. 1, effectively broadened the scope of Title IX, the 1972 law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding. They extend the law’s reach to prohibit discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and widen the range of sexual harassment complaints that schools will be responsible for investigating.

“These regulations make it crystal clear that everyone can access schools that are safe, welcoming and that respect their rights,” Miguel A. Cardona, the education secretary, said in a call with reporters.

The rules deliver on a key campaign promise for Mr. Biden, who declared he would put a “quick end” to the Trump-era Title IX rules and faced mounting pressure from Democrats and civil rights leaders to do so.

The release of the updated rules, after two delays, came as Mr. Biden is in the thick of his re-election bid and is trying to galvanize key electoral constituencies.

Through the new regulations, the administration moved to include students in its interpretation of Bostock v. Clayton County, the landmark 2020 Supreme Court case in which the court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination. The Trump administration held that transgender students were not protected under federal laws, including after the Bostock ruling .

In a statement, Betsy DeVos, who served as Mr. Trump’s education secretary, criticized what she called a “radical rewrite” of the law, asserting that it was an “endeavor born entirely of progressive politics, not sound policy.”

Ms. DeVos said the inclusion of transgender students in the law gutted decades of protections and opportunities for women. She added that the Biden administration also “seeks to U-turn to the bad old days where sexual misconduct was sent to campus kangaroo courts, not resolved in a way that actually sought justice.”

While the regulations released on Friday contained considerably stronger protections for L.G.B.T.Q. students, the administration steered clear of the lightning-rod issue of whether transgender students should be able to play on school sports teams corresponding to their gender identity.

The administration stressed that while, writ large, exclusion based on gender identity violated Title IX, the new regulations did not extend to single-sex living facilities or sports teams. The Education Department is pursuing a second rule dealing with sex-related eligibility for male and female sports teams. The rule-making process has drawn more than 150,000 comments.

Under the revisions announced on Friday, instances where transgender students are subjected to a “hostile environment” through bullying or harassment, or face unequal treatment and exclusion in programs or facilities based on their gender identity, could trigger an investigation by the department’s Office for Civil Rights.

Instances where students are repeatedly referred to by a name or pronoun other than one they have chosen could also be considered harassment on a case-by-case basis.

“This is a bold and important statement that transgender and nonbinary students belong, in their schools and in their communities,” said Olivia Hunt, the policy director for the National Center for Transgender Equality.

The regulations appeared certain to draw to legal challenges from conservative groups.

May Mailman, the director of the Independent Women’s Law Center, said in a statement that the group planned to sue the administration. She said it was clear that the statute barring discrimination on the basis of “sex” means “binary and biological.”

“The unlawful omnibus regulation reimagines Title IX to permit the invasion of women’s spaces and the reduction of women’s rights in the name of elevating protections for ‘gender identity,’ which is contrary to the text and purpose of Title IX,” she said.

The existing rules, which took effect under Mr. Trump in 2020, were the first time that sexual assault provisions were codified under Title IX. They bolstered due process rights of accused students, relieved schools of some legal liabilities and laid out rigid parameters for how schools should conduct impartial investigations.

They were a sharp departure from the Obama administration’s interpretation of the law, which came in the form of unenforceable guidance documents directing schools to ramp up investigations into sexual assault complaints under the threat of losing federal funding. Scores of students who had been accused of sexual assault went on to win court cases against their colleges for violating their due process rights under the guidelines.

The Biden administration’s rules struck a balance between the Obama and Trump administration’s goals. Taken together, the regulation largely provides more flexibility for how schools conduct investigations, which advocates and schools have long lobbied for.

Catherine E. Lhamon, the head of the department’s Office for Civil Rights who also held the job under President Barack Obama, called the new rules the “most comprehensive coverage under Title IX since the regulations were first promulgated in 1975.”

They replaced a narrower definition of sex-based harassment adopted under the Trump administration with one that would include a wider range of conduct. And they reversed a requirement that schools investigate only incidents alleged to have occurred on their campuses or in their programs.

Still, some key provisions in the Trump-era rules were preserved, including one allowing informal resolutions and another prohibiting penalties against students until after an investigation.

Among the most anticipated changes was the undoing of a provision that required in-person, or so-called live hearings, in which students accused of sexual misconduct, or their lawyers, could confront and question accusers in a courtroom-like setting.

The new rules allow in-person hearings, but do not mandate them. They also require a process through which a decision maker could assess a party or witness’s credibility, including posing questions from the opposing party.

“The new regulations put an end to unfair and traumatic grievance procedures that favor harassers,” Kel O’Hara, a senior attorney at Equal Rights Advocates. “No longer will student survivors be subjected to processes that prioritize the interests of their perpetrators over their own well being and safety.”

The new rules also allow room for schools to use a “preponderance of evidence” standard, a lower burden of proof than the DeVos-era rules encouraged, through which administrators need only to determine whether it was more likely than not that sexual misconduct had occurred.

The renewed push for that standard drew criticism from legal groups who said the rule stripped away hard-won protections against flawed findings.

“When you are dealing with accusations of really one of the most heinous crimes that a person can commit — sexual assault — it’s not enough to say, ‘50 percent and a feather,’ before you brand someone guilty of this repulsive crime,” said Will Creeley, the legal director of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

The changes concluded a three-year process in which the department received 240,000 public comments. The rules also strengthen protections for pregnant students, requiring accommodations such as a bigger desk or ensuring access to elevators and prohibiting exclusion from activities based on additional needs.

Title IX was designed to end discrimination based on sex in educational programs or activities at all institutions receiving federal financial assistance, beginning with sports programs and other spaces previously dominated by male students.

The effects of the original law have been pronounced. Far beyond the impact on school programs like sports teams, many educators credit Title IX with setting the stage for academic parity today. Female college students routinely outnumber male students on campus and have become more likely than men of the same age to graduate with a four-year degree.

But since its inception, Title IX has also become a powerful vehicle through which past administrations have sought to steer schools to respond to the dynamic and diverse nature of schools and universities.

While civil rights groups were disappointed that some ambiguity remains for the L.G.B.T.Q. students and their families, the new rules were widely praised for taking a stand at a time when education debates are reminiscent to the backlash after the Supreme Court ordered schools to integrate.

More than 20 states have passed laws that broadly prohibit anyone assigned male at birth from playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams or participating in scholastic athletic programs, while 10 states have laws barring transgender people from using bathrooms based on their gender identity.

“Some adults are showing up and saying, ‘I’m going to make school harder for children,” said Liz King, senior program director of the education equity program at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “It’s an incredibly important rule, at an incredibly important moment.”

Schools will have to cram over the summer to implement the rules, which will require a retraining staff and overhauling procedures they implemented only four years ago.

Ted Mitchell, the president of the American Council on Education, which represents more than 1,700 colleges and universities, said in a statement that while the group welcomed the changes in the new rule, the timeline “disregards the difficulties inherent in making these changes on our nation’s campuses in such a short period of time.”

“After years of constant churn in Title IX guidance and regulations,” Mr. Mitchell said, “we hope for the sake of students and institutions that there will be more stability and consistency in the requirements going forward.”

Zach Montague is based in Washington. He covers breaking news and developments around the district. More about Zach Montague

Erica L. Green is a White House correspondent, covering President Biden and his administration. More about Erica L. Green

Ohio bill could ban 'gender ideology' curriculum for K-3 students

Ohio senators' changes to House Bill 8 , referred to as the parents' bill of rights, bring the potential law more in line with Florida's controversial law nicknamed the "Don't Say Gay" law by opponents.

Opponents say the bill will force the outing of students to their parents and targets LGBTQ students or students with LGBTQ families. Supporters say it's about giving parents authority over their children.

House Bill 8 originally would have required schools to notify parents about any sexually explicit learning materials, defined as any description or pictures depicting sexual conduct.

Parental rights bill increasingly more stringent

The original bill would also require schools to notify parents about any provided health care services. It would have banned school staff from encouraging a student to withhold information about their health or well-being from their parents, unless "disclosure would result in abuse, abandonment, or neglect."

Republicans on the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee removed the exception for suspected abuse and neglect. They also changed the bill's language from sexually explicit content to "sexuality content," which is defined as any description or depiction of sexual concepts or "gender ideology." The bill does not define gender ideology.

There are exceptions for education about preventing venereal disease, child sexual abuse and sexual violence.

They also added language explicitly requiring parents be told if a student requests to "identify as a gender that does not align with the student's biological sex."

The bill passed the Ohio House, 65-29 in June.

Does Ohio already require parental notification?

Under Ohio's current laws, schools are required to notify parents of any instruction that goes beyond the criteria for venereal disease education. Parents can review any sexual education materials in their student's school upon request and school districts must have parental review of curriculum.

School districts are also required to excuse students from sexual education and assault prevention if a parent requests it.

A contentious hearing

On April 23, the Senate Education Committee approved changes to the bill that would ban any curriculum with sexuality content in kindergarten through third grade and require a parent’s consent for any physical or mental health care the school provides, which are the same as two parts of the Florida law .

Harley Rubin, a transgender person and graduate student at Case Western Reserve University, submitted written testimony about coming out in high school and seeking help from the school counselor regularly after his father's yelling.

Rubin told The USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau he believes the bill will endanger students.

"Not only will it not educate kids fully and restrict what can be said in schools, but it also would risk students' safety, violate their privacy and create a barrier between them and school professionals," he said.

Committee Chair Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, disagreed with this characterization during the hearing.

Six people testified about the bill during the hearing. Five speakers were against the bill and one was in favor.

Concerns about 'forced outing' of students

Liam Strausbaugh with the National Association of Social Workers of Ohio expressed concerns with the conflict the bill may present with the social workers' code of conduct emphasizing a need for confidentiality and respect for client autonomy.

“Mandating that school staff report a child’s innermost thoughts and feelings to parents immediately can be incredibly damaging to a child’s therapeutic process and would discourage youth from sharing anything at all with support staff," he said.

Brenner asked what part of the bill would facilitate the forced outing of students and asked if a student would already be out if they are going by another name.

Rubin told The USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau coming out to a counselor or a teacher can be on the path to coming out to one's parents.

"You're trying to figure out, 'I know this person accepts people like me, so I'm just gonna give it a shot, and then they can help me try to decide how I'm going to tell my parents.' It's not about keeping anything from your parents, but getting to it and trying to do that in a safe way," he said.

Troy McIntosh with the Center for Christian Virtue spoke in favor of the bill.

“Government actors cannot and must not be allowed to supersede the authority of the parents on these particular topics. That’s all this bill does. It is not a 'Don’t Say Gay' bill. As much as people want to link it to that language, it’s not," he said at the hearing.

Erin Glynn is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio .

This dissertation, ("Teacher Burnout and Student Misbehavior: An Exploration of the Underlying Mechanisms"), has been approved by the Graduate Faculty of the Curry ... among teachers, and students in classrooms with teachers experiencing burnout demonstrate worse academic, behavioral, and social/emotional outcomes (Herman,

McCormick and colleagues (2017) also found that teacher-student relationship quality moderated the relations between socioeconomic status (SES) and academic achievement in grades preschool through five, mitigating some of the challenges that low SES students face when it comes to educational success.

Exploring Teachers' Relational Self-Efficacy and Teacher-Student Relationships . A Dissertation . presented by . Carly Dolan Robinson . to . The Committee on Higher Degrees in Education . in partial fulfillment of the . ... Teacher-student relationships, in particular, pose unique challenges: teachers and students are assigned to each other ...

their students and how that relationship affects student engagement in the classroom. The implications of this study can shed light on the importance of student-teacher relationships in helping students reach academic success. The initial literature review in this dissertation is presented to facilitate a deeper

All other work conducted for this dissertation was completed by the student independently. Funding Sources Graduate study was supported by several scholarships and fellowships from Texas A&M University, including the Graduate Merit Fellowship and the 2018-2019 Internship Scholarship Award.

Marzano (2003) studied the practices of effective teachers. and determined that "an effective teacher-student relationship may be. the keystone that allows the other aspects to work well" (p. 91). The relationships that teachers develop with their students have. an important role in a student's academic growth.

A dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for ... non-profit organizations, and the public at large about the value of teaching students 21st century skills, these non-academic competencies are not systematically integrated into student learning experiences in many U.S. ... Teachers and Students ...

2010). Teachers are required to provide an education to a wide array of students. including those who have experienced trauma, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, bullying, truancy, oppositional defiance disorder, aggressive behaviors, and poor regulation skills (Brunzell, Stokes, & Waters, 2016).

Educator Mindsets and the Impacts to Teacher-Student Relationship: An Exploratory Case Study By Tammy Fisher Huson Chairperson of the Dissertation Committee: John Bond, Ed.D., School of Education Teacher-student relationships (TSR) have long been demonstrated to have significant impact on student outcomes.

In the third paper of the dissertation, I test the validity of teacher effects on non-tested outcomes by examining whether non-experimental estimates predict student outcomes following random assignment. ... (Murnane & Willett, 2011). Non-random sorting of students to teachers (Clotfelter, Ladd, & Vigdor, 2006; Rothstein, 2010) and omitted ...

An Exploratory Study on Student and Teacher Perceptions on Student Motivation and the Teacher-Student Relationship. Abstract. Student motivation is a strong contributing factor to student success in the classroom and is significantly impacted by the teacher-student relationship.

Theses/Dissertations from 2016. PDF. Student Self-Assessment: Teachers' Definitions, Reasons, and Beliefs, Christopher Daren Andrews. PDF. What is Being Said about Historical Literacy in Literacy and Social Studies Journals: A Content Analysis, Kiera Beddes.

A dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education . Baltimore, Maryland . ... students and teachers into an innovation economy that posits thinking skills at the core of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, outdated methods of instructionism (Sawyer, 2006) that ...

student teachers' self-confidence and the power/influence of their mentor teachers is valuable not only for mentor teachers, but also for student teachers. As student teachers learn from their mentor teachers, not all interactions are positive in the eyes of the student teachers. Critical feedback and guidance are necessary for student

Addressing this research problem, the purpose of this qualitative single case. study was to explore the perceptions of ninth-grade teachers regarding the prospective. causes of poor academic performance of ninth-grade students, with particular attention to. cognitive, behavioral, and emotional student engagement.

disconnection between students and teachers was addressed by investigating positive student-teacher relationships; student achievement; and the connection between student-teacher relationships and achievement. Qualitative data were collected using focus groups of students and teachers who explored characteristics of positive student-teacher

Student and Teacher Relationships at Secondary Level. Published Doctor of Education dissertation, University of Northern Colorado, 2021. Interpersonal relationships between teachers and students built within a learning context have a significant influence on the development of learners' social and emotional life. Higher

The study detailed in this dissertation was designed to examine and understand student perceptions of self-efficacy, motivation, student-teacher relationships, and procedural differences during the transition to middle school. The mixed-methods study utilized a survey, focus groups, and interviews to triangulate the data.

The Motivation Scale contains seven items and assesses teachers' perceptions of student motivation. The remaining 13 items load onto five reasons teachers endorse for the students' lack of motivation. The reasons subscales are home factors, relevance, aspirations, peer factors, personal factors.

Teacher-student relationship quality. Teachers who show students respect, fairness, kindness, compassion, patience, understanding, commitment and trustworthiness, and who establish and maintain caring, warm, and supportive teacher-student relationships, manifest significant ethical principles and virtues that are built into the professional ethics of teaching (Campbell Citation 2003).

The Impact Of Teacher-student Interaction On Student Motivation And Achievement Tisome Nugent University of Central Florida Part of the Education Commons ... This dissertation is dedicated to my students. Each day you inspire me to want to make a difference; each day you teach me how to love unconditionally; and each day you ...

A Nevada substitute teacher was arrested for getting into a physical scuffle with a student, according to several reports. Video obtained by News 3 shows the teacher going head to head with the ...

Ex-NJ teacher arrested for alleged sexual assault of middle school student he taught By NBC New York Staff • Published April 29, 2024 • Updated on April 29, 2024 at 12:32 pm Getty Images

NEW: Las Vegas substitute teacher arrested after fight with Valley High School student caught on camera. Re' Kwon Smith (27) faces charges including battery and assault on a school pupil.

This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection at ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies by an ... middle school teachers of ELL students and teachers' practices of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) in diverse ...

A student stabbed a staff member several times Monday at a school in Lynn, Massachusetts, police said.Police were called to KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate at 20 Wheeler St., where they found that a ...

The new regulations extended legal protections to L.G.B.T.Q. students and rolled back several policies set under the Trump administration. By Zach Montague and Erica L. Green Reporting from ...

Ohio senators' changes to House Bill 8, referred to as the parents' bill of rights, bring the potential law more in line with Florida's controversial law nicknamed the "Don't Say Gay" law by ...

State legislators in Tennessee passed a bill Tuesday allowing teachers and school staff in the state to be armed. ... a 28-year-old former student, was shot and killed by police. Gun reform ...

more than 30 students, and of those 30 students, an inclusion class had no more than eight special education students. The local study district's student population was 97% Hispanic students, 4.3% Caucasian students, and 2.3% Black students. According to Texas Education Agency (2019), with a graduation rate of 99.1% in

• Sign In/Register
• Samsung Community

Galaxy Book vs Galaxy Tab

Original topic:.

• Subscribe to RSS Feed
• Mark Topic as New
• Mark Topic as Read
• Float this Topic for Current User
• Printer Friendly Page

• Mark as New
• Report Inappropriate Content

Monday in 

• All forum topics
• Previous Topic

never-displayed

• Galaxy Book 4 Pro - CPU going really slow! in Computers 6 hours ago
• space bar repair in Computers Saturday
• Galaxy Book 4 Ultra I9 BSOD in Computers Friday
• Galaxy book 4 pro fan is too loudly in Computers Thursday

• Microsoft Surface Pro vs. Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch: A 2024 Arms Race

Can Microsoft's new Snapdragon X-based Surface Pro tablet topple Apple's ultralight laptop favorite with M3 silicon? Here's how they stack up on 12 important factors.

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (2024, M3)

Bottom line.

The 2024 Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch shoehorns more performance into its slim chassis, and amps up the external-monitor support and gaming capability. It holds its own as the best ultraportable Mac.

Microsoft Surface Pro (2024)

Pricing and availability: surface's accessory problem.

The newest Microsoft Surface Pro isn't available yet, but preorders are open and the tablet is due to hit store shelves on June 18, so you won't be waiting long. A base model sells for $999 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor, 16GB of memory, a 256GB solid-state drive, and an IPS touch screen. If you want a more vivid OLED display and a more powerful Snapdragon X Elite chip, the starting price is $1,499. 

You can configure these devices with more RAM and storage, hiking the price to $1,699.99 for an OLED model with Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB of memory, and a 1TB SSD.

Unfortunately, you're not done shopping until you check out some Surface Pro accessories. If you want the basic Surface Pro Keyboard ($139) or Surface Slim Pen ($129.99), you'll quickly raise even a base model into four figures.

But things get really pricey if you want the best version of both, the brand-new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard with Slim Pen ($449.98). This new and improved desk set and screen cover includes a storage slot with wireless charging for the pen. But that's a hefty price to pay just to get the tablet and keyboard experience Microsoft shows off in its ads.

On the other hand, the 13.6-inch Apple MacBook Air M3 starts at $1,099. But it also comes with a keyboard integrated into the system and doesn't need extra accessories. The base model combines Apple's M3 processor with eight-core integrated graphics, 8GB of memory, and a 256GB SSD.

You can upgrade from eight- to 10-core graphics ($100), increase memory to 16GB ($200) or 24GB ($400), and bump up the storage to 512GB ($200), 1TB ($400), or 2TB ($800), bringing a fully loaded configuration to $2,299.

Obviously, both rivals can get quite expensive, but the MacBook Air offers full functionality without any accessories, while Microsoft sells the Surface Pro without a keyboard and stylus by default.

Winner: MacBook Air

Parts and performance: rivals take up arms.

In 2020, Apple introduced the first MacBook with the company's own M-series processor. This new silicon was designed and developed internally by Apple, allowing it to end a decades-long relationship with Intel. The result has been overwhelmingly positive, scoring big wins for Apple and helping it lead recent growth in computer sales .

After years of development that never seemed to go anywhere, Microsoft has made its biggest investment in Arm-based systems yet . The new Surface Pro is the first of more than a dozen portable devices built on Qualcomm Snapdragon X chips , and Microsoft has elevated Arm with more native apps and an improved general-purpose emulator that lets any x86 app work on the new systems.

We saw some pretty impressive results when we ran some preliminary tests on Snapdragon X Elite reference machines, but those were tightly controlled experiences, not our standard benchmark tests in our usual lab environment. Microsoft promises superb performance from the new hardware, with drastically more power than the previous Surface Pro 9: Indeed, Redmond claims the new tablet is 58% faster than the MacBook Air M3 with 20% longer battery life to boot. But these are unconfirmed claims, so we'll withhold judgment until we can do our own evaluation.

Here's what we know about these competing Arm processors: Apple's M3 is an eight-core CPU that operates at 4.05GHz, while the Snapdragon X Elite has 12 cores that can zoom up to 3.8GHz. (The lower-end Snapdragon X Plus is a 10-core chip that runs at up to 3.4GHz.)

As for graphics, the MacBook Air M3 can be configured with an eight-core or 10-core integrated graphics processor (IGP), but Apple doesn't publish concrete specifications or performance figures. On the other hand, Qualcomm says that the Snapdragon X Elite's Adreno IGP is capable of up to 4.6 trillion floating operations per second (TFLOPS), but doesn't reveal how many graphics cores it has.

Let's address the less flashy side of components: memory and storage. Apple equips base MacBook Air laptops with 8GB of memory and a 256GB solid-state drive, with options climbing to 24GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD. Microsoft, on the other hand, provides 16GB of standard RAM which can be doubled to 32GB, plus 256GB of storage expandable to 1TB.

This big change for Microsoft is poised to put the Surface Pro and MacBook Air on a surprisingly even footing—assuming the new Qualcomm chips deliver the promised performance. However, until we get the new Surface Pro in for testing, we can't say.

Winner: Too soon to tell

Futuristic features: microsoft surprisingly speeds ahead.

While both Microsoft and Apple are committed to staying at the forefront of technology, the latest announcements from Redmond give the new Surface Pro a distinct edge. Microsoft calls the tablet the first Copilot+ PC, which includes new AI capabilities like Recall. This tool continuously indexes your files and actions to let you ask for files in natural ways—"What's the report Bob mentioned in that email last Friday?"—and get content and context-aware responses.

An AI-enhanced tool in Paint called Co-creator lets you jazz up your sketches with image generation, and the new Live Caption tool provides real-time text captions of live or recorded audio and video and automatic translation.

With AI features integrated throughout Windows 11 , Microsoft's Copilot+ PC initiative looks like a game-changing evolution of the personal computing experience. As of now, Apple has nothing quite like it. 

Winner: Surface Pro

Portability: form factors fight it out.

The biggest, most obvious difference between the two systems remains their form factors. While both are extremely thin and light, the MacBook Air is a laptop while the Surface Pro is a tablet. Attach one of Microsoft's optional keyboards, and the slate becomes a detachable 2-in-1 , sufficiently powerful to match ultraportable laptops in terms of capability. 

But to unleash that capability, you need the keyboard, which Microsoft has always charged extra for (as Apple does for iPads). This has long been a complaint about the Surface line, where the fully versatile 2-in-1 experience requires additional expense.

The MacBook Air, on the other hand, is a straightforward laptop. Its ultra-thin, lightweight design has helped reshape the laptop category over the years. At 2.7 pounds, it's one of the most portable laptops on the market.

However, this thinness is based on a passive cooling design that uses no internal fans to cool the processor, which limits the potential performance of the MacBook Air compared to Apple's MacBook Pro models. The Surface Pro tablet is not fanless, allowing for better peak performance, especially over prolonged periods. Combine this with the flexibility of a detachable design, and the Surface presents a level of versatility that the MacBook Air can't match.

Winner: Tie

Touch controls: the surface advantage.

The Surface Pro also leverages one of Windows PCs' biggest advantages, touch-screen support. Apple may provide plenty of touch and pen input options with the iPad Pro, but the MacBook Air has none. The trackpad is the closest you'll get to touch input, as Apple does not support touch (let alone drawing and writing with a pen) on any MacBook model. 

The Surface Pro's touch screen is superb on its own, letting your fingers do the walking. But the addition of the Surface Slim Pen allows you to draw, add handwritten notes, and use pinpoint precision as you tap and touch. It's a sizable advantage over the touchless display of the MacBook Air.

Display: Surface Goes Sharper and Faster

Touch and pen support may be welcome, but a display isn't just about tactile input. In this area, Microsoft and Apple are in a dead heat, serving up some of the best screens in the business.

The MacBook Air boasts a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, Apple's brand name for a 2,560-by-1,664-pixel IPS panel paired with LED backlighting. This better-than-FHD display has a density of 224 pixels per inch (ppi), which is lower than the Surface Pro's, but still looks sharp and colorful. Features like HDR and variable refresh rates, however, are reserved for the more premium MacBook Pro.

The Surface Pro has a 13-inch IPS panel with 3:2 aspect ratio. With 2,880-by-1,920 resolution, what Microsoft calls a PixelSense Flow display sits somewhere between full HD and 4K, with a density of 267ppi. It supports features like Dolby Vision HDR and a variable refresh rate of up to 120Hz, and it's protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass to fend off scratches and cracks.

But if you're willing to pay a bit more, the Surface Pro can be upgraded to an even better display. The optional OLED panel delivers deeper contrast and gorgeously vivid colors, along with all of the touch-screen, high-res goodness seen on the standard version. HDR and VRR support stays the same, along with Gorilla Glass protection.

One more element of display support adds to Microsoft's advantage: The Surface Pro can drive up to three external 4K displays. The MacBook Air is limited to dual Apple Studio Displays, which may offer sharper 5K resolution, but you'll only get two—without the laptop display.

Ports: What Happened to the Headphone Jack?

Plugging in those external monitors (or anything else) requires ports, and today's ultra-slim systems don't leave room for a lot of pluggable connectors. The 13.6-inch MacBook Air has two Thunderbolt USB4 ports and a MagSafe 3 charging port. While having only two ports can be limiting, the Thunderbolt connection supports all sorts of speedy peripherals, making it ideal for mass storage or connecting external monitors. Thanks to the MagSafe power connection, you can charge your MacBook Air over USB-C if you like, but you don't need to.

The Surface Pro tablet has a pair of USB-C ports, which double as charging connections for the tablet. Along the tablet's edge is a proprietary keyboard connector, but everything else—whether a docking station, an external monitor, or additional storage—will connect via USB-C. Power also needs to go through one of those ports, which isn't an issue if you're using a powered docking station but will cost you half of your port array if you need to recharge on the go.

Another connection many shoppers find essential is the MacBook Air's 3.5mm audio jack. The Surface Pro has none, forcing you to use Bluetooth or a USB-C adapter to connect headphones or speakers.

Wireless Connectivity: Surface Edges Ahead with Wi-Fi 7

Wi-Fi and handheld device connectivity varies between the two systems as well. The Surface Pro is outfitted with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3. The MacBook Air, launched in March 2024, has Wi?Fi 6E since the Wi-Fi 7 standard only reaches even newer laptops at the moment.

Mobile broadband (LTE or WWAN) access is currently the same for both—neither device has it—but that won't be the case for long. According to the Microsoft product page, the Surface Pro line will gain models with optional 5G in the fall of 2024. Apple has announced no plans to add 5G to the MacBook Air, so if you need internet access without a Wi-Fi hotspot or tethering to your phone, you should hold out for a 5G-equipped Surface Pro tablet.

Keyboard: Surface Surprises With its Latest Set of Keys

Considering the very different designs of the Surface Pro and the MacBook Air, it's no surprise that their keyboard experiences are drastically different. The Apple compact has one of the best-known keyboards in the laptop world. It has a flat profile, square keys, and a readable backlight. It's not the best laptop keyboard on the planet, but for an ultraportable, it's quite comfortable.

The Surface Pro, on the other hand, has one of the most distinctive keyboards on the market. The Surface Pro Flex Keyboard retains the screen cover/flat keyboard combo design that the Surface helped pioneer years ago and that's evolved year after year with features like backlit keys and storage for the Surface Slim Pen. But the new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard takes things up a notch with built-in Bluetooth connectivity. When you first attach the keyboard to your tablet, it also pairs it via Bluetooth, letting you pull it free from the tablet for wireless use. That greatly enhances the already impressive flexibility of Microsoft's 2-in-1 design and leaves the MacBook Air in the dust.

Camera: Surface Goes Sharper (Again)

The Surface Pro is a two-time winner when it comes to cameras. The tablet is outfitted with a quad HD (1440p) front-facing Surface Studio Camera, but it also has a second rear-facing camera with a 10-megapixel 4K sensor. The MacBook Air has a 1080p FaceTime HD webcam. While this might be nice, it's still just full HD.

Both systems augment these cameras with features like image processing, auto centering, and other AI-driven goodies to help you look your best, but the Surface offers resolution and a whole extra camera for taking snapshots and videos in the field. No amount of image processing can make up that difference.

Battery Life: MacBook Air Sets a High Bar

Microsoft claims the new Surface Pro will last for 14 hours of uninterrupted video playback, while Apple rates the MacBook Air M3 at 18 hours of Apple TV app movie playback. Those are slightly different standards but close enough for our purposes. 

We haven't yet tested the Surface Pro, but the MacBook Air lasted nearly 22 hours in our video rundown, blowing past Apple's conservative estimate. The Surface Pro may well do the same and surpass its own estimate, but we won't know until we get it on our test bench.

Colors: Fun Shades for Everyone

The laptop world may stick to the old Model T paradigm of palettes ("Any color you want as long as it's black"), but Microsoft and Apple have embraced a wider range of hues, with a selection of vibrant anodized finishes available for both the Surface Pro and MacBook Air.

The Surface Pro is offered in bare-metal Platinum, Sapphire Blue, a brownish beige called Dune, and basic black. The Air keeps things slightly more neutral, with a golden Starlight, steely Space Gray, simple Silver, and Midnight (a blue-tinted near black). With four color choices each, most of admittedly variations on simple metal or black, we call this one a tie.

Early Verdict: Surface Pro Wins by Playing a Different Game

You can't deny that both the 2024 Microsoft Surface Pro and the 13.6-inch Apple MacBook Air M3 are two of the best portable systems you can buy (or preorder in the Surface Pro's case). But comparing them point by point makes it clear that the Surface Pro tablet has the potential to be the biggest winner in consumer PCs this year.

With superb specs such as an optional OLED display, high-resolution cameras, potent processing power, and exciting AI features, the Surface Pro is on the leading edge of the rapidly evolving AI computing concept. In this context, the MacBook Air looks a little less exciting and a bit more like the best of an older era, which is sort of the point.

Microsoft is pushing to make Windows Copilot and the newly announced Copilot+ PCs the vanguard of a new type of computing experience. It's a huge gamble on the future of computing being intertwined with generative tools and conversational interfaces. It seems like a smart bet, but we won't know for sure until these AI-infused systems start selling and getting used by real consumers and businesspeople. Until then, it's all big promises and optimistic marketing.

If you want a proven ultralight laptop with a rock-solid user experience, the MacBook Air M3 is a smart choice. We recommend it to pretty much anyone because it's a fine system. And it's not merely a proven commodity, it's a good value, with the lowest price in Apple's M3 MacBook line.

But if you want to back Microsoft's play for the future of computing, you have no better choice than the new Microsoft Surface Pro tablet. It elevates the slate's already excellent design with new features and cool capabilities. Yes, you'll have to spend a bundle for the spiffy new pen and keyboard, but the result is one of the most exciting products we've seen in a long time.

More Inside PCMag.com

• New 13-Inch Framework Laptop Gets Intel Core Ultra Chips, Better Display
• The Best Rugged Laptops for 2024
• Microsoft Surface Laptop vs. Apple MacBook Air: Which Arm-Based Laptop Should You Buy?
• Google Brings Gemini AI to the Next Generation of Chromebook Plus Laptops
• Hands On: Acer's Chromebook Plus Spin 714 Gets New Hardware, AI Smarts

About Brian Westover

If you’re after laptop buying advice, I’m your man. I’ve been reviewing PCs and technology products for more than a decade. I cut my teeth in PC Labs, spending several years with PCMag.com before writing for other outlets, among them LaptopMag.com and Tom’s Guide. While computers are my main focus, I am also the resident Starlink expert, and an AI enthusiast. I’ve also written at length about topics ranging from fitness gear and appliances to TV and home theater equipment. If I’ve used it, I have opinions about it, whether somebody’s paying me to write them up or not.

More From Brian Westover

• First Tests: How Fast Are Starlink's New Dish V4 and Router V3?
• The Best Cheap Laptops for 2024
• Hands On: Microsoft's 2024 Surfaces Level Up With Copilot AI, Arm Silicon