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kylera

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 5, 2010
1,195
27
Seoul
Source

Do you personally see a drop in attention span because of this? I find it much easier to read on a screen than on paper, but maybe it's just me...
 

Jessica Lares

macrumors G3
Oct 31, 2009
9,612
1,056
Near Dallas, Texas, USA
No way! I've probably got a better attention span now than I have in the last 10 years (In fact, I remember pretty much everything I've ever wrote and read on the internet, and have been using it since the mid 90's). I love reading on screens too, after tweaking them to my taste anyway.

That test doesn't make any sense. Everyone has their own style of reading. Some people can get really into a book (like me), others choose to speed read, and that's why the attention portion of the brain isn't in use. Because you're not paying attention, you're just reading very quickly and picking up very little.
 

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
If I'm going to do a lot of reading (PDF, large text documents) I prefer to just email it over to my Kindle. I can read stuff on my iPad just fine but I don't like the weight and (same with computer monitors) I find prolonged reading to be a bit painful.
 

0dev

macrumors 68040
Dec 22, 2009
3,947
24
127.0.0.1
I don't really have any problem reading off of normal screens TBH. I used to have a Kindle but when the screen smashed itself after the warranty expired I never bothered replacing it and just started using my tablet instead. Not had any issues doing so.
 

mobilehaathi

macrumors G3
Aug 19, 2008
9,368
6,352
The Anthropocene
I really hate news articles that reference scientific research and fail to cite it. This is even worse because they are referencing a secondary source and not even linking to that! I've experienced first hand how popular news deliberately or accidentally gets research wrong when reporting it to the public. It is a failure on several levels, but there is no excuse to not give the citation to the original research article.

I prefer to read print. I'm staring at a screen all day and it helps to relieve the strain of squinting at bright pixels for hours on end.
 

0dev

macrumors 68040
Dec 22, 2009
3,947
24
127.0.0.1
I really hate news articles that reference scientific research and fail to cite it. This is even worse because they are referencing a secondary source and not even linking to that! I've experienced first hand how popular news deliberately or accidentally gets research wrong when reporting it to the public. It is a failure on several levels, but there is no excuse to not give the citation to the original research article.

Could be worse. Could be a Daily Mail article.

 

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,984
46,448
In a coffee shop.
It depends on what one is reading, and, in turn, that influences how one reads it. I find that if I merely need information, the online world is an excellent source, but if I want to think about what I am reading, I prefer it in a hard copy format.

Personally, I don't mind reading newspaper articles and short pieces that don't require close attention online, though I prefer to read longer, more thoughtful, articles in an actual paper or publication format.

Likewise, I still much prefer to read books as books, printed on paper, between covers, rather than their screen equivalents.

And, when working as an editor, I have noticed that I pick up errors far faster when working with a hard copy than on a screen.
 
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