Note to Self:Read “Is Google

Making Us Stupid?”

ByNicholas Carr!!!

Reading Behaviors in the Digital Age

Have you ever considered how surfing the internet, hyper-

texting, and reading e-books affect:

Your thinking process?

Your child’s thinking process?

Your brain?

Your child’s brain?

The ProblemDigital reading leads to a decrease in sustained attention and an inability to perform in-depth thinking.

Purpose of the ResearchTo understand how three computer-based reading behaviors interfere with:

Sustained reading

In-depth thinking abilities

Development of critical thinking skills

Digital Reading Distractor

Browsing and Scanning

on the Internet

There is a vast increase in browsing, scanning, and keyword-spotting vs. in-depth reading.

Most readers read the first screen of text only.

Younger people do not have the patience to read every word.

They skim and look for needed information only.

Picture-reading is increasing. Readers search for illustrations to explain charts, graphs, and tables.

Source: http://www.benschweitzer.org/WORK/ eyetrackingpapers/Liu-reading%20behavior%20in%20the%20digital%20environment.pdf

Digital Reading DistractorNon-Linear Reading or

Hyper-Texting

Hyper-texts (links) within a text contribute to fragmented reading.

A document on the web has an average of nine links. This creates nine decisions that the reader must make while reading a single document – and access to nine other documents.

Clicking a mouse and scrolling interrupt a reader’s focus, whereas, turning pages create a reading experience.

Readers are exploring more topics, and reading more, but at a more superficial level.

Jumping from text to text through links, distracts the reader from thinking deeply about a single subject.

Hyper-text discourages sustained reading (absorption) and reflection, two characteristics of literacy reading.

Digital Reading Distractor

Screen Reading (vs. Print Reading)

Learning requires time and mental exertion and the new media do not allow for that.

According to Liu (2005), a majority of people understand and retain more information when they read printed media.

In Liu’s study, 80% of participants preferred to read a digital piece of text in print in order to understand the text with clarity.

A majority of people like to highlight and annotate when reading, common activities with print.

A Quick Summary

Source: http://www.benschweitzer.org/WORK/

eyetrackingpapers/Liu-reading%20behavior%20in%20the%20digital%20environment.pdf

Change Over The Past Ten Years in Percentage of Time Spent on:

Browse/

Scan

KeyW

rd Sp

ot

NonLin

ear R

dg.

Susta

ined A

ttn.

Indep

th Rdg

.02468

IncreaseDecrease

Significance of the Study

Students develop critical thinking skills through sustained reading and reflection.

Digital reading behaviors discourage readers from sustained reading and reflection.

The effects of digital reading behaviors will ripple throughout society.

Teachers, educators, and parents must consider digital reading behaviors when planning curricula/lessons/reading experiences, especially those that are intended to develop critical thinking skills.

Conclusion Throughout history the

introduction of each new technology has changed how we process information—in essence, has changed our brains.

The introduction of digital

media is no different. It is not a matter of digital

media versus print media, but of how we, as educators and parents, will integrate digital media and print media to develop each child’s critical thinking skills in order to reach his or her maximum potential.

Bibliography

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Codrescu, Andrei. (2011, March 7,). E-Book Tarnishes The Reader- Book Relationship. Audio Podcast. Retrieved from NPR Website:http://www.npr.org/2011/03/07/134342235/E-Book-Tarnishes-The-Reader-Book-Relationship?ps=rs DeStefano, D.  and LeFerve, J. (2007, May). Cognitive Load in Hypertext Reading:  A Review.  Computers in Human Behavior, 23, no. 3, 616-41.  Retrieved from http://hubscher.org/roland/courses/hf765/readings/DeStefano_2007_Computers-in-Human-Behavior.pdf   

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Hafner, K. (2009, May 25). Texting May Be Taking a Toll.  New York Times.  Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/health/26teen.html

Liu, Z. (2005). Reading Behavior in the Digital Environment.  Journal of Documentation, 61, no. 6 , 700.  Retrieved

from  http://www.benschweitzer.org/WORK/eyetrackingpapers/Liu-reading%20behavior   

Media Multi-taskers Pay Mental Price, Stanford Study Shows. (2009, August 24). Stanford University News Release.  Retrieved from http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2009/multitask-research-release-082409.html

Merzenich, M.  (2010, June 29). Going Googly. PositScience blog.  Retrieved from

http://www.positscience.com/blog/2010/06/29/going-googly

Multi-tasking Adversely Affects Brain's Learning. (2005, July 26). University of California press release.  Retrieved from

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/8354 

Puzzling Web Habits across the Globe. (2008, July 31). ClickTale blog.  Retrieved from

http://blog.clicktale.com/2008/07/31/puzzling-web-habits-across-the-globe-part-1  Small, G.W., Moody,T.D. , Siddarth, P. , & Bookheimer,S.Y. (2009, February). Your Brain on Google:  Patterns of Cerebral Activation during Internet Searching.  American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 17, no. 2 :  116-26.  Retrieved from http://arunshanbhag.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/brainongoogle-amerjgp-2009.pdf

Storybooks On Paper Better For Children Than Reading Fiction On Computer Screen, According to Expert. (2008, December). Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081219073049.htm