Digital Reading Vs Print Reading: Implications and Limitations

Introduction

The article Digital reading grounds that it is an essential subject matter in contemporary information science research (Liu, 2012). Moreover, to provide an overview of extensive studies on digital studies throughout the past years. Indeed, the title and the abstract of this article is straightforward, which is good, so readers will not lose their interest. Liu states that 'The widespread use of digital resources has brought about significant changes in reading practice and behavior as people spend more time reading online,' which is timely to the current generation since most schools nowadays use learning devices such as tablets and laptops that could affect their academic performance. Unfortunately, the kinds of pieces of information present in the article, such as investigation, articles, and studies are not enough to support the item because of the lack of information on print reading, repetition of ideas, and a limited scope on digital reading vs print reading debate.

Importance of Digital Reading

Digital reading has caused a drastic change in our execution in reading, especially to our habits. Besides, digital technology has made a significant impact on reading that it created an innovation to learning, especially in research, with the help of hypertext and how people started to read extensively with skimming and scanning. Numerous studies state that digital text leads to a lower understanding compared to the printed version due to the lower attention span and focus caused by technology. The methods used by the author in gathering the data are online articles and related studies to explain the context of digital reading. Furthermore, the author finds that there is a curiosity to new knowledge in science and digital behavior, together with the comparison of print and digital text, the preference for reading medium, effects to learning, and the outcome of technological advancement also how traditional attachment is still present throughout the years.

The article 'digital reading' is mostly supported by reports and studies; instead, the author should have shown his experiment on the article so readers would understand more about digital reading and the effects it has on productivity, performance, and behavior. Moreover, as a way to explore the topic of digital reading, it should have explored where it all started, which is printed text. The article lacks background information about print as it only talks about its advantage of having no comprehension of reading. An excellent example of an article where it gives a detailed comparison and background of print and digital is 'Student Reading Practices in Print and Electronic Media' by Nancy M. Foasberg. Foasberg’s 2014 study states that, Print is also an option and is still an important one for many. Although academic libraries are attempting to adjust to these new types of reading, it is not possible to adjust well without a strong understanding of students' reading practices regarding these formats (Foasberg, 2014 p. 705)

Effects of Print Reading

Forsberg's article gave a good understanding of print reading together with the effects it has in learning and behavior with evidence of her experiment in contrast to Liu, who cites his study from 2005 which may not be appropriate for his 2012 article because there is a seven years gap which means different people and different technology. During his research, technology is insufficient compared to the technology of digital reading it had on his 2012 article. Though Liu has a broader background of print reading on his research, he should have added more information in the article for the reader to have a better understanding of digital and print reading. As you read the article, it may seem to be concise, but in reality, redundancy of ideas is evident in the text. Lines from the article such as 'The increasing mechanization of print facilitated a shift from intensive reading to extensive reading. Around 1750 there was a dramatic change in the way people read documents.' and 'With the growing amount of digital information available and the increasing amount of time people spend on reading electronic media, the digital environment has begun to affect people's reading behavior.' is an example how the Liu demonstrates his proposition about digital text which clearly shows that his ideas on the articles are overlapping despite having different sources for each objective.

Liu should have proofread his article to see if his sources and concepts are the same and matching. Provided that the author was able to discuss the background and significant research findings for digital reading, the limited scope is evident because of the failure of some sources cited being accessed. Not only that, most of the references used by Liu can not be located, but he also is not using APA citation, which is commonly used in research fields and science. References not being accessed leads to invalid claims since there is no evidence shown if the source exists or reliable. As a result, Liu fails to acknowledge and give credit to the writers he borrowed concepts from their research and studies. By all means, print reading is used for extensive comprehension by being able to highlight and do note-taking on the text. On the other hand, digital reading is used widely in today's generation because of the advancement of technology and the convenience to us and the environment, such as a smaller amount of trash and being able to bring around without any problem.

There are also adverse effects on digital reading, such as acquiring a little depth on reading (Liu, 2012). This leads to a shorter attention span because according to a recent study by Microsoft Corporation has found that technology is making it difficult for us to focus. They are resulting in our attention span reduced from 12 seconds to 8 within a decade (Borreli, 2015). Furthermore, the preference of medium in reading is up to the reader based on where they are comfortable and fit for their interests. Lastly, Liu stated that 'technology is constantly improving and reading practices themselves are evolving.' relates to how the digital reading in 2012 is different contrary to digital reading in the present.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the lack of information on print reading, repetition of ideas, and the limited scope of digital reading leads to a missing puzzle piece of the article. Knowing where it first originated is essential in real life as it gives humans better judgment and appreciates how pure knowledge can evolve into an innovation. Inspecting the reference is an excellent ability to double-check the reliability of the article. The reader should practice close reading to comprehend the text in both digital and print. Although errors are present in the article, Liu was still able to give an overview of what digital reading despite some sources being unfounded. This shows that despite Liu having an excellent educational background, he could even commit simple errors that could ruin the entirety of the article.  

Works Cited

1. Liu, Ziming. 'Digital Reading.' Communications in Information Literacy, vol. 6, no. 2, 2012, pp. 204-217. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2012.6.2.4
2. Foasberg, Nancy M. 'Student Reading Practices in Print and Electronic Media.' Reference & User Services Quarterly, vol. 54, no. 4, 2015, pp. 697-712. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.54n4.697
3. Borreli, Lizette. 'Attention Span Statistics: How Technology Is Shaping The Way We Think.' Medical Daily, 15 May 2015. URL: https://www.medicaldaily.com/attention-span-statistics-how-technology-shaping-way-we-think-334474