ON-SCREEN READING - IS DEEP THOUGHT POSSIBLE?

Deep reading is when reflective and conscious reading leads to profound understanding of a text.

This thought is about on-screen reading on a computer screen (not smart phones, e-book readers, googling and the like). This theoretical thought contrasts on-screen reading with reading on-paper (a printed text) at times when deep thought, analysis is required. On-screen reading is there, it is used for a purpose which is light reading, or scanning, or for quick information bites or news items; these are successful on-screen reading pursuits.

There are critics who have serious concerns about on-screen reading, I am one. Being convinced that when reading digital texts the reader is engaged in a more superficial, less attentive way, whereas on-paper reading, readers read every word and think about and probe the content more deeply.  

There are people like Kevin Kelly, a leading web usability expert, who believe that we are, at this time, transitioning from "book fluency to screen fluency, from literacy to visuality". The argument continues that it is similar to the time when we transited from oral to written forms of communication. Certainly, on-screen reading no longer allows static and fixed reading, therefore it mostly likely will change the way readers think, opening up options and ceaseless capacities that on-paper reading will not realize. But these distractions may mean the reader is less absorbed in the material in front of them; they do not truly concentrate. One internet author describes on-screen readers ‘allowing a trail [to go] out sideways’.

My students at Flinders University (2012) in an effort to save photocopying costs read their learning articles on-screen. It stood out in their written responses to the articles that students did not capture the argument(s) the author wrote about, with a consequence there was a deficiency in their critical analysis of the main ideas; substance was lacking in their recordings; their writings were not passable. They are 1^st years and allowance has to be made that the type of content, their lack of background knowledge and maybe their reading experiences at school are far removed from the academic reading required at university. Also, where academics see the importance of reading these articles for students to learn the new topic, students may not and therefore skip reading becomes the order of the day.

Nevertheless,  it seems that  deep reading and thinking may be inhibited by the inability for meaningful, self reflection when reading on-screen. When questioned about their on-screen experiences the students replied that they did not highlight the main ideas or (which would be better still) scribble anecdotal notes and questions in the margins. This does happen when reading on-paper. Note: I know that highlighting and notes (I think through ‘tracking’) can be done on-screen, but it is not readily intermingled as writing on-paper.

Reading on-paper is more closed, allows more committed engagement and focus on the material at hand. The reading is fixed and allows concentrated effort. The position you read in, is more often than not, comfortable – chair or bed, the sense of the paper in hand coalesces with the sense of sight which in turn merges into, as the internet author describes, the ‘hallways of your head’. The benefits of on-paper reading seems to derive from  mood, familiarity, engagement.

The author, completes his views on on-screen reading with this comment, “Those distractions aside, though — who knows, maybe I’ll adjust and this distinction will fade. But so far the engagement just doesn’t feel the same. The links don’t feel as deep”.

I would like to see research into the contrasts between on-screen reading and on-paper reading for deep thought and analysis, as students at school and at university are being pushed more and more towards on-screen reading and it may not be the best way to go to promote more profound understandings.

A reminder:

Liz Simon's Thinkers and Performers Bringing Critical Thinking Alive. 2010. This book one book contains three topics (it is like having 3 books in one) (1) Critical thinking about children's literature (2) the information process, a non-fiction topic, + more complex, linked Inquiry (3) Book Clubs.