Most U.S. College Students Now Prefer Digital Reading

Tue Mar 20 16:21:32 EDT 2012

I'm still skeptical. Maybe because I use an older version of the kindle
that doesn't have internet access (though it does have games). That NY
Times article doesn't seem to provide any real data. "some of the millions
of consumers" find it distracting. How many? My personal experience is that
I get just as engrossed in my kindle as I do in a regular book. And the
ability to look up a word with the click of a button is amazingly helpful.

I understand the worry about multi-tasking and distractions in the digital
age, but I don't think there's any difference in distraction from the
person who reads on an e-reader to the person who reads a regular book but
has any number of other gadgets on their person. A text or call, which
would vibrate or ring in your pocket, would seem to be more of a
distraction than having to close your book on the ereader to find an app.

Cindy

----------
Cynthia Greenan, MLS
Submissions Coordinator
Portal of Geriatric Online Education (POGOe.org)

On Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 2:56 PM, McKiernan, Gerard [LIB] <
gerrymck at iastate.edu> wrote:

>  Colleagues/
>
>
>
> Speaking of distractions
>
>
>
> **"Finding Your Book Interrupted ... By the Tablet You Read It On"**
>
>
>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/business/media/e-books-on-tablets-fight-digital-distractions.html
>
>
>
> /Gerry
>
>
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* Web technologies in libraries [WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf
> of Sandford, Mark [SANDFORDM1 at WPUNJ.EDU]
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 20, 2012 8:30 AM
>
> *To:* WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> *Subject:* Re: [WEB4LIB] Most U.S. College Students Now Prefer Digital
> Reading
>
>   Cindy, it’s the availability of distractions that I meant.  You can
> swap to another app without moving (well, just a finger has to move, I
> guess).  There’s anecdotal evidence to suggest that the lure of email and
> Facebook lurking just a swipe away is difficult for some to ignore.
>
>
>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/business/media/e-books-on-tablets-fight-digital-distractions.html?pagewanted=all
>
>
>
> And don’t some tablets have notifications when emails/IMs/tweets/etc come
> in?  Plenty of people I know can’t resist that new email notification from
> Outlook when they’re on their computer.
>
>
>
> Regarding Sharon’s comments, I would argue that the cost of switching
> between tasks is not intuitively obvious to many people.  People pride
> themselves on their ability to multitask.  I see students insisting nearly
> every day that they can text, check Facebook, have one earbud stuck in an
> ear, and still pay attention in class.  They say they work best that way.
> Which might be true, in the sense that my old van worked best when I put it
> in neutral at red lights and revved the engine so it didn’t stall.
>
>
>
> Mark Sandford
>
> Special Formats Cataloger
>
> Cheng Library
>
> William Paterson University
>
> (973) 720-2437
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Web technologies in libraries [mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU] *On
> Behalf Of *Cindy
> *Sent:* Monday, March 19, 2012 4:27 PM
> *To:* WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> *Subject:* Re: [WEB4LIB] Most U.S. College Students Now Prefer Digital
> Reading
>
>
>
> What kind of interruption are you talking about with a tablet? In my
> experience, once you start reading on a tablet, it's the same as if you
> were reading a book. Sure you could close the book and start playing a game
> if your tablet has that ability, but you could get the same distraction
> from a regular book and a nearby gaming console. The studies on
> multi-tasking don't apply here.
>
>
>
> Cindy
>
>
>
> ----------
>
> Cynthia Greenan, MLS
>
> Submissions Coordinator
>
> Portal of Geriatric Online Education (POGOe.org)
>
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 11:01 AM, Sharon Foster <fostersm1 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Not entirely on point, but there has been a study of the effect of
> interruptions on tasks like writing software that require a stretch of
> uninterrupted thinking time. The "cost" of the interruption is considerably
> more than the length of the interruption itself, as the person who is being
> interrupted has to context switch from one task to another and then back
> again. This is intuitively obvious to most of us.
>
> I don't have the resources at my fingertips, but the article I'm thinking
> of would have been in an ACM or IEEE publication, probably on software
> standards and practices, approximately 10 years ago.
>
> Sharon
> ----------
> Sharon M. Foster
> Information Wrangler
>
> “Are women citizens? Are we human? Does the Constitution not apply to us?”
> ~Rebecca in Harlem, 3/14/2012
>
>
>
>
>  On Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 9:11 AM, Sandford, Mark <SANDFORDM1 at wpunj.edu>
> wrote:
>
> Among our students, the most popular format is, by a good margin, whatever
> is cheapest.  Our bookstore rents textbooks for a semester and that is the
> most popular option.
>
>
>
> I’m curious what, if any, effect the format has on comprehension and
> retention of subject material.  Using a tablet as a reader introduces any
> number of instantly-available distractions, which is very dangerous to a
> generation that generally believes their brains are capable of efficient
> multitasking.  Is anyone aware of any studies that have looked into that?
>
>
>
>
>
> Mark Sandford
>
> Special Formats Cataloger
>
> Cheng Library
>
> William Paterson University
>
> (973) 720-2437
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Web technologies in libraries [mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU] *On
> Behalf Of *McKiernan, Gerard [LIB]
> *Sent:* Saturday, March 17, 2012 10:35 AM
> *To:* WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> *Subject:* [WEB4LIB] Most U.S. College Students Now Prefer Digital Reading
>
>
>
> *** Apologies for Receipt of Duplicate Postings ***
>
>
> Colleagues
>
>
>
> IMHO > Transformative !
>
>
>
> /Gerry
>
>
>
> The majority of U.S. college students now prefer digital formats whether
> they’re reading textbooks or “fun” books, according to a new survey from
> the Pearson Foundation.
>
> “Survey on Students and Tablets 2012” polled 1,206 U.S. college students
> and 204 college-bound high school seniors. Some findings:
>
> —College students prefer digital over print for “fun” reading (57 percent)
> and textbook reading (58 percent), “a reversal from last year, when more
> students preferred print over digital.” Pearson says the trend is also
> apparent among high-school seniors (though it doesn’t break out which
> format the majority prefer), “and is mostly driven by an increase in the
> preference to use tablets for reading.” The study doesn’t ask whether
> students are using tablets or e-ink e-readers for reading.
>
> —A quarter of college students now own a tablet, compared to just 7
> percent last year. Seventeen percent of college-bound high school seniors
> own a tablet, compared to four percent last year.
>
> —Thirty-five percent of college students who own a tablet also own “an
> e-book reader or small tablet device.” (Not sure what a “small tablet
> device” is! Asking Pearson.)
>
> —Among college students who own tablets, the iPad is the most popular (63
> percent), followed by the Kindle Fire (26 percent) and Samsung Galaxy Tab
> (15 percent).
>
>
>
> Source and Links Available Via
>
>
>
> [ http://bit.ly/yGtqh5 ]
>
>
>
> Gerry McKiernan
>
> Associate Professor
>
> and
>
> Science and Technology Librarian
>
> Iowa State University
>
> 152 Parks Library
>
> Ame IA 50011
>
>
>
> http://digital-textbooks.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
>
>
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