Paper Vs. Plasma

Zomorodi, Manoush (2014, september 17) Paper Vs. Plasma: How the Digital Reading Shift is impacting Your Brain

http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/paper-vs-plasma-how-digital-reading-shift-impacting-your-brain/

Reading on paper is easier for brains to process the information, where as reading on a screen or tablet makes it harder for readers to concentrate. The more you read on tablets the more non-linear the brain becomes making it harder for the reader to concentrate on what he or she is reading. It is recommended for people to read from both tablets and print in order to exercise the two types of brain power the brain produces from the two mediums. 

"The more you read on screens, the more your mind shifts towards "non-linear" reading—a practice that involves things like skimming a screen or having our eyes dart around a web page."

“I think the evidence someday will be able to show us that what we’re after is a discerning ‘bi-literate’ brain,” says Wolf. “That’s going to take some wisdom on our part.”

To me, reading has always been reading, I never put much thought into the different kinds of brain power that reading requires. Stimulating the different ways of reading is crucial especially to this new generation that sees more literature on print than they do on tablets should be more of a known fact. I personally cannot focus as well when I read on tablets but I always thought that it was just personal preference, however, since it affects everyone, textbooks that are becoming digital should stay in print format. Having less things go into print and more things on tablets is better for the environment as well as cheaper but it does not benefit those reading from them.