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Those who are interested in this issue really should read a book called Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf. The subtitle is: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. Reading does actually physically change the brain structure - and it can differ, based on whether you're reading in English or in Chinese or Korean. (Oddly enough, the book is not available as an e-book. I wound up buying the p-book simply because the premise fascinates me.)
It doesn't surprise me that e-reading vs. p-reading or just reading from a back-lit source might require different brain synapses and connections to develop. There's also the matter of the glorification of "multi-tasking" - where constant distraction from the task at hand is considered the ability to handle multiple tasks.
It's certainly true that online reading is a different skill than settling in for a focused reading of a novel or other "intense" book experience. And I suspect that the younger generations, raised on doing everything online in an "interactive" environment may not develop the skills required to read and digest a dense novel or non-fiction work. That will be a loss for civilization (IMO anyhow).
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