Why is it better to read paper books

Despite all the advantages of digital sources of information, over the past few years, there has been increasing evidence that our brain prefers analog media.

Those who read the story on paper gave more accurate answers to questions related to time and chronology than those who read it with a Kindle. And when participants were asked to place 14 events in the correct order, those who read the paper book performed better.

Anna Mangen

Scientists have yet to fully analyze this study. But Mangen attributes the benefits of reading paper books to a lack of metacognition. According to the professor, metacognition is how consciously we are about information. “For example, how much time do you spend reading to understand a text well enough and then solve a problem associated with it,” says Mangen.

Participants in another study were of the opinion that they make better sense of information when they read from electronic screens. Because of this, they swallowed the text much faster than those who read it on paper and believed that they would do better in the text quiz. As a result, fans of the traditional format not only benefited from understanding the text, but also better predicted their results.

You don’t have to read everything from paper

The situation is clear with books, but does the brain absorb information just as well when reading newspapers, magazines, and other physical media? Not necessary at all.

“Length does seem to be the main problem, and a number of other text parameters, such as structure and design, are closely related to it. Is the content presented in a way that requires you to keep several events or pieces of text in mind at the same time?” — Mangen continues. In other words, the complexity and density of information can influence the importance of the text source.

“It may be that for certain types of text or literary genres (for example, for overly engaging books) the source is almost irrelevant, while in the case of other genres (for example, cognitively and emotionally complex novels), the source may be important for understanding and understanding the book,” explains Mangen. “But this has yet to be empirically tested.”

You don’t have to reach out to the print button when you receive another letter, unless it’s as long as the novel. Reading short messages from the screen is unlikely to prevent you from understanding and remembering.

Print and digital information can coexist peacefully

Printed information is not always as good for understanding and remembering as digital information. It is useful to remember that all media and technologies have their own user interfaces. In some cases, the paper user interface may be better at remembering and absorbing complex information than electronic devices.

But in other cases, for example, when showing presentations with audiovisual materials, a device like a tablet will be more useful. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. It all depends on a number of factors related to the content, the reader, the purpose of reading, or the situation.

Take your time when reading e-books

Just because you can’t give up e-books doesn’t mean that everything is lost for you. You probably think you’re absorbing information faster than you actually do, so you read books faster.

The simple solution would be to slow down and pay more attention to analyzing the material. This will help you perceive information as well as when reading from paper.

Source: https://lifehacker.ru/reading-and-memory/

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