What is the Screen Inferiority Effect and How Does it Affect Comprehension Reading Skills in Students?

Researchers have compared the impact of printed and digital pages on comprehension reading skills and suggested that printed pages have an advantage over digital pages. They suggest that the phenomenon of 'Screen inferiority' affects students' reading skills. The screen Inferiority Effect refers to the impact of reading printed pages when compared to digital pages. Research suggests that students comprehend more when reading printed pages than when reading digital pages. Research on the same has been going on since the year 2008.

Research suggests that while reading for pleasure, the impact of screen inferiority is minimal, however, this becomes more pronounced when the objective of reading is reading for a specific purpose, namely reading for academic purposes. The gap between reading for pleasure and reading for academic purposes becomes evident when the objective changes. Extra screen time and the lack of tactile feedback might put the reading of digital texts at a disadvantage.

Evidence suggests that reading printed pages is more advantageous than reading from digital pages. My personal experience as a teacher of English suggests that it is more advantageous to read from printed pages since one can make active annotations on the printed text. Moreover, the tactile sensation of having a page pass through one's fingers including the scent of the page cannot be compared to the impact that a digital page has. The fact of the matter is that we human beings are more connected to tactile sensory inputs in our learning processes.  One important hypothesis that favours reading from printed pages over digital pages is that people who read from digital pages do so for shorter periods while those who read from printed pages spend more time on the printed pages. Another major argument in favour of reading from printed pages is that readers prefer reading from printed pages to reading from digital pages. 

One major disadvantage that rules against reading from digital pages is that readers have a preference for reading from digital pages when it comes to the question of engaging with the text for academic purposes. This is driven by the purpose of reading a text, whether it is for academic purposes or reading for pleasure.

The implication of these findings is that reading from printed pages should not be abandoned in favour of reading from digital pages. Reading from the internet might offer suggestions for a term paper or a project, but these will not suffice in the long term, at least for submissions for projects. Flipping through printed pages offers better feedback than reading from digital pages. Research suggests that the screen inferiority effect could be a factor that affects decision-making processes in schools and colleges although factors like cost and access might sway decisions in favour of digital texts. The fact of the matter is that the nostalgic factor and the tactile factor outweigh the advantages of reading printed pages as opposed to the reading of digital pages.

My personal thoughts on this topic is that when one is reading from a printed page one is better able to connect to the matter. Being able to make annotations on the printed page, the sensation of turning pages has more impact than reading from a digital page. Reading from a printed page offers a more authentic experience than reading from a digital page. We need to do more research on the topic before we arrive at a proper conclusion, however, preliminary studies suggest that reading from printed pages is more effective than reading from digital pages!

For further reading  on the topic visit:

https://www.techlearning.com/news/the-screen-inferiority-effect-how-screens-affect-reading-comprehension