Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirtel
Depends on what you read, I guess. I doubt reading a run-of-the-mill fantasy or mystery novel on eink makes me any stupider than reading the same book on paper. And my reading has been almost exclusively low-brow genre fiction for the past 25 years. So I reckon I'm stupid enough already.
As to internet killing our ability to concentrate, that's certainly true. But it's not because of the screen as such, it's because of the disjointed and irregular way we receive information online, and the constant distractions that go with it.
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I doubt the effect, if any, would be insignificant for low-brow genre fiction, too. Possibly for any fiction. And if there's an effect it might be connected to the greater enjoyment some experience reading paper books (tactile input, smell, etc.), which would not be relevant to you, as you prefer e-books anyway.
I think the main difference might be seen for textbooks. I find all extratextual inputs helps. The memory of how I held the book, where on the page I saw the information, how the weight was distributed (eg. having read 100/700 pages), etc etc. In e-book format these external factors are very limited.
I don't fully agree regarding screens, however. For me the constant light shining in my eyes makes it impossible to read anything but shorter texts like these forum posts. I've tried reading novels on a screen, but cannot concentrate for long enough.
The horrible design makes it x100 worse, of course.