Skip to main content

92 percent of students prefer physical books to e-readers

apple ebook settlement ibooks ios
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Don’t get too nostalgic about the days of paper books just yet — it looks like e-readers are still a ways away from replacing the real thing. According to research from Naomi Baron, a linguistics professor at American University, 92 percent of students still prefer to do “serious reading” using books that make use of actual ink printed on a physical page. Laptops, phones, tablets, and even e-readers all come in a distant second, the professor says.

The research involved a survey of more than 300 college students from countries around the world, including Japan, Germany, Slovakia, and the U.S., and is all for Baron’s upcoming book — “Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World.”

Recommended Videos

Despite the fact that 50 percent of Americans own a tablet or e-reader, and an even greater proportion own smartphones that can also support books and electronic reading materials, Baron has found that owning is not the same thing as enjoying the actual experience. Many people complain about e-readers hurting their eyes, the less-than-satisfactory battery life, and frankly, the rather impersonal feel of putting Jane Austen’s classics on a Kindle. In fact, it looks like the popularity of e-readers may actually be declining — a Scholastic study notes that while 60 percent of children between the ages of 6 and 17 said they’d always want to read books in print in 2012, this number increased to 65 percent just two years later.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

“There really is a physical, tactile, kinesthetic component to reading,” Baron told the New Republic in a recent interview. “In the Slovakian data, when I asked what do you like most about reading in hard copy, one out of ten talked about the smell of books.”

And when she asked her study subjects what they didn’t like about reading on a screen, a lot of their answers had to do with the physical progress and satisfaction you get from reading a print book that just isn’t there with a Nook. “They like to know how far they’ve gone in the book,” Baron said. “You can read at the bottom of the screen what percent you’ve finished, but it’s a totally different feel to know you’ve read an inch worth and you have another inch and a half to go. Or students will tell you about their visual memory of where something was on the page; that makes no sense on a screen. One student said, ‘I keep forgetting who the author is. In a print book all I have to do is flip back and I see it.’ There are all kinds of reasons students will give — ‘I have a sense of accomplishment when I finish a book and I want to see it on the shelf.'”

Sure, e-readers serve their purpose, and Baron herself notes, “Generally speaking, if you give standardized tests on comprehension of passages, the results are about the same on a screen or on hard copy.” But when it comes to personal preferences, the printed book remains king.

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Hyundai Ioniq 5 sets world record for greatest altitude change
hyundai ioniq 5 world record altitude change mk02 detail kv

When the Guinness World Records (GWR) book was launched in 1955, the idea was to compile facts and figures that could finally settle often endless arguments in the U.K.’s many pubs.

It quickly evolved into a yearly compilation of world records, big and small, including last year's largest grilled cheese sandwich in the world.

Read more
Global EV sales expected to rise 30% in 2025, S&P Global says
ev sales up 30 percent 2025 byd sealion 7 1stbanner l

While trade wars, tariffs, and wavering subsidies are very much in the cards for the auto industry in 2025, global sales of electric vehicles (EVs) are still expected to rise substantially next year, according to S&P Global Mobility.

"2025 is shaping up to be ultra-challenging for the auto industry, as key regional demand factors limit demand potential and the new U.S. administration adds fresh uncertainty from day one," says Colin Couchman, executive director of global light vehicle forecasting for S&P Global Mobility.

Read more
Faraday Future could unveil lowest-priced EV yet at CES 2025
Faraday Future FF 91

Given existing tariffs and what’s in store from the Trump administration, you’d be forgiven for thinking the global race toward lower electric vehicle (EV) prices will not reach U.S. shores in 2025.

After all, Chinese manufacturers, who sell the least expensive EVs globally, have shelved plans to enter the U.S. market after 100% tariffs were imposed on China-made EVs in September.

Read more