Am I alone in this?

‘We read to know we’re not alone.”- William Nicholson

I don’t know about you but I find it easier to read a large book in prints rather than on screen (on a tab, computer or on my phone). Once a book is more than two hundred pages, I am not sure I will finish reading it on screen. I hope I am not alone in this.

At first, I thought I was old school, and that it was probably because I started reading prints much longer than I learnt to read on screen. I felt the younger generation would probably feel different and that they would be better at reading on screen. It turned out that evidence suggest that the challenge is similar across age groups. Yes, they may like it better, but they also find it hard to read through a large book or retain the details of what they read on screen, I stand to be corrected.

Then, I thought it must be that I am weird or lazy, until I did some digging and found that it is a common phenomenon. It turns out that readers like me who like to engage with whatever they read find it difficult to read on screen but prefer to read printed copies. For one, when I read on screen, I forget where I stopped and may have to read through a number of paragraphs to continue the next time. I know I can book mark or highlight the text, but it has not worked for me, because I need to understand the context. I also find that I get tired very easily when reading on screen than on paper, it appears the screen drains my energy and enthusiasm for reading faster that the printed copied does.

While this write-up is not intended to discourage reading on electronic devices, as it is easier to access electronic materials, they can also be cheaper to buy or download. When having to scan through a large reading material, it’s better to read on the screen. If there will be a need to reference a text, it is better done on screen as well.

Secondly, I find that when I read printed books, there is less distractions and I often don’t do any other thing, unlike when I read on screen, I may be inclined to surf the net, respond to an email or a WhatsApp message. I wonder if the advocates of digital reading don’t face these challenges. Some researchers have suggested that many people find it hard to read on the screen because they have associated reading on screen with casual web-surfing and may tend to rush through without fully absorbing the text.

Well, my strategy is, if the book is important, voluminous and I want to get the best out of it, I will read the printed copy. When it comes to intensively reading a long piece of plain text, paper and ink does it for me. But if it’s for leisure, a short read, or just to scan through to glean a few facts, I do a lot of reading on screen. Kindly share your experience, I am hoping I am not alone in this.