Reading; Digital or Paper?

  • I prefer reading on paper. I will go out of my way to print something.
  • I do most of my reading on screens. And I don’t mind it.

0 voters

I am often curious about people’s reading habits. Specifically how they read text.
Reading on a device is convenient for obtaining material, but there’s a je ne sais quois about reading on print.
Do y’all think about this often or is it a non-issue for you? Do you print web content, articles? What are your thoughts on e-ink or ereaders? Are newspapers, magazines and books too slow to compete with the hot ripping speed of the information age?

Personally reading on a screen is more enjoyable for me. I do not mind reading print or on-screen material. I do enjoy this kind of reading method though, it’s called Bionic Reading. There is the chance that it could just all be a placebo and being told that you can read faster with this method just makes you focus more and try to read faster rather than having an actual effect.
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Maybe I Can Write a CSS rule that turns text to bionic reading

instead of line by line, I feel like I read every word at the same time.
well I guess I’m a genius now

It really depends on how much I actually care about reading something.

If I truly care about the thing I’m reading, I want it on paper. Full stop.

If it’s something I’m more ambivalent about, well I’ll take it however. That said, I rarely if ever do digital library materials because the public library gets a much worse deal on those and the DRM is too yucky.

Now that I think about it more, having the things I care about on paper is an extra level of sanctity. I spend all day reading stuff on a screen, so having dead tree in my hands puts me in a different mindset you know?

For important things that are semi-unique or unique, I prefer to have a digital backup.

Also for personal office stuff I don’t want to read it on paper. I want it digital, where filing cabinets and files themselves don’t take up what little space I have in my apartment, at least beyond some integrated circuits I’d have anyway.

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+1 for use cases. I don’t care about having an offhand software manual as a searchable PDF file, but you aren’t gonna make me read the Bible or something by baking my retinas in light