Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

theconversation.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 95 posts

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#21

Post by dagenleg »

devty wrote: post #14
dagenleg wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, Amazon now even injects their Kindle promotions in HackerNews comments. Even adblock cannot help me now. Nowhere is safe!

What makes you say this? Are all positive reviews a corporate sponsored promotion in your view?

Well, the article itself is not discussing the merits of Kindle Voyage so the comment looked out of place for me. And certainly marketing via internet comments is a thing, even on HackerNews. I think it's called "integrated" marketing, or whatever the current newspeak for that one is. Regardless my comment was mostly made tongue-in-cheek

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#22

Post by jobu »

chromalife wrote: post #6

I prefer having a physical book. Flicking through pages to reread sections, highlighting and margin notes are not yet seamless with the reading app I'm using. But Getting a tablet has increased the amount I'm reading by at least a factor of 4. It is now so easy to buy books after reading a recommendation online. The free sample feature makes it so I don't buy a book I won't like, And the built in dictionary has me lo…

> Having said all that my kids will be getting physical books. The distractions in electronic devices is something I'm still struggling

Having four kids myself, I would never have tried to start them reading on a device. Kids don't start reading novels or textbooks, they have books that are physically interactive in a way that doesn't translate very well to a screen. Starting out, children learn by touch and taste as much as with ears or eyes.

Even at ages four to six, many kids need a physical or tactile element to help them learn. My youngest used to love turning the pages back and forth to talk about the differences in the characters of Dr Seuss books like Go Dog Go. The physical interaction of turning a page to demonstrate progression of time in a story is something that doesn't seem to translate as well when swiping or tapping in a tablet.

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#23

Post by vorpalhex »

chromalife wrote: post #6

I prefer having a physical book. Flicking through pages to reread sections, highlighting and margin notes are not yet seamless with the reading app I'm using. But Getting a tablet has increased the amount I'm reading by at least a factor of 4. It is now so easy to buy books after reading a recommendation online. The free sample feature makes it so I don't buy a book I won't like, And the built in dictionary has me lo…

It's funny because I'm the exact opposite. I have to have paper books for my pleasure reading, but most of my technical or higher brow books I keep digital since it's massively cheaper and easier to search/bookmark/leave notes/etc.

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#24

Post by overcast »

While I still use my Kindle for travel, I've actually purchased more hardcover books SINCE I got a Kindle, then I have at any other point in my life. Using the Kindle, just gave me even more appreciation for the experience of holding a book, flipping the pages, the smell, that whole tactile experience that is just missing otherwise.

I'm also making a serious attempt to distance myself from technology for at least part of the day. Smartphones have essentially taking over my life, and I'm actively removing myself from that as well.

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#25

Post by chromalife »

vorpalhex wrote: post #23
chromalife wrote: post #6

I prefer having a physical book. Flicking through pages to reread sections, highlighting and margin notes are not yet seamless with the reading app I'm using. But Getting a tablet has increased the amount I'm reading by at least a factor of 4. It is now so easy to buy books after reading a recommendation online. The free sample feature makes it so I don't buy a book I won't like, And the built in dictionary has me lo…

It's funny because I'm the exact opposite. I have to have paper books for my pleasure reading, but most of my technical or higher brow books I keep digital since it's massively cheaper and easier to search/bookmark/leave notes/etc.

What software/hardware are you using ?

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#26

Post by sizzzzlerz »

Ebooks are fine for quick referrals but I simply can't stand using them for sustained reading. If I'm engrossed in reading a paper book, I'll knock off a hundred pages without noticing the time. I try to do that on my iPad or a computer monitor and I'm edgy and disinterested in just a handful of pages.

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#27

Post by panzagl »

overcast wrote: post #24

While I still use my Kindle for travel, I've actually purchased more hardcover books SINCE I got a Kindle, then I have at any other point in my life. Using the Kindle, just gave me even more appreciation for the experience of holding a book, flipping the pages, the smell, that whole tactile experience that is just missing otherwise. I'm also making a serious attempt to distance myself from technology for at least par…

If the tactile experience means that much I'd think you'd be too pissed to read anything from the past 40 years or so except from small specialist publishers. Even hardbacks now are mostly cheaply made disposable products, with whatever money that goes into their production apparently wasted on the dust jacket.

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#28

Post by overcast »

panzagl wrote: post #27
overcast wrote: post #24

While I still use my Kindle for travel, I've actually purchased more hardcover books SINCE I got a Kindle, then I have at any other point in my life. Using the Kindle, just gave me even more appreciation for the experience of holding a book, flipping the pages, the smell, that whole tactile experience that is just missing otherwise. I'm also making a serious attempt to distance myself from technology for at least par…

If the tactile experience means that much I'd think you'd be too pissed to read anything from the past 40 years or so except from small specialist publishers. Even hardbacks now are mostly cheaply made disposable products, with whatever money that goes into their production apparently wasted on the dust jacket.

I buy a lot from Folio Society ;)

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#29

Post by panzagl »

devty wrote: post #15
holydude wrote: post #12

I prefer physical books for reading fiction and eink / display for tech books.

Fascinating - I am the exact opposite! I've found that for reading fictions - a narrative that mostly move forward - the limition of eink displays in freely flipping between pages to be less annoying.

Same here, especially since fiction rarely has diagrams or maps.

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#30

Post by marbletiles »

flippyhead wrote: post #20
jasonkostempski wrote: post #9

Adults too.

I know this seems a common sentiment here, but I just don't get it. There is almost nothing better about a physical book vs. a Kindle, especially on the high-eng (e.g the Voyage). Whenever I've discussed this with people the only reason I seem to get is some vague sense of nostalgia.

- Random access.

- Non-random access: we are surprisingly good at knowing where in a book something we read was, and flipping back to it. While keeping our finger in the place or places we were. You can build a working stack of locations in paper that's a pain to do in every e-reader I've tried.

- Notes/Marginalia/Markup are available on both, but with vastly more expressiveness and options on paper (though without search)

- Share/re-share/bequeath

- Some evidence of better comprehension and retention of physical reading vs screens.

- No batteries required.

- Attractive physical objects can be a pleasure to own (and a pain in the ass when moving house)

Post reply on HN