Are E-Books Making Us Stupid?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Geremia

Don't judge it solely by its title.

I wasted part of my life reading it all.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Geremia

👍

I assume you also don't believe in smartphone "addiction", either.

People can be addicted to services on it. That's nothing to do with the content making them stupid. It's more to do with the content being exploitive.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Geremia

The article is good because it overviews e-book adoption and how most people aren't habituated to it yet.

Now that it is 10 years later, I suspect many people are habituated.

[bubblegirl11]

I feel like the problem here isn't ebooks at all. It's about how we intake information and from what sources. We used to be suggested books from universities to study for a course because those were the right books.

Even today we need to selectively figure out which one is the right form and source of content for us. Its still the same way to navigate our path to what we need.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I don't drive so I'm not up on the latest car technologies. Could that be a reminder that you shouldn't be relying on lane-assist (or lane departure technology) at that time? I wouldn't be surprised if most people needed a nudge for something like that.

The signs predate that particular tech, but I suppose it could be relevant. Though many people still wouldn't make the connection. A better sign would be "LANE ASSIST UNAVAILABLE" if that's what they're getting at.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Geremia

Don't judge it solely by its title.

The article is good because it overviews e-book adoption and how most people aren't habituated to it yet.

The articleis not only not good, it's utterly useless. It IS alarmist clickbait AND antiquated, outdated alarmist clickbait.

About which you still haven't answered my question: Why post a 10 year old article here?

It is pseudo-scientific in appearance, with its citations etc, but like it, they are ancient and now irrelevant. What, exactly, was your POINT? Especially in posting TO A WEB FORUM an article that decries the evil deleterious effects of reading on anything other than paper.

[MGlitch]

Oh an old article which conflates ebooks with reading on tablets, doesn’t actually offer any comparisons on a 1:1 basis for ebooks to books when using the vast majority of ebooks rather than hyper specialized ebooks likely aimed at edutainment rather than education.

Yes let’s all heed these words from a decade old article written by someone who even at the time wasn’t up to date with the technology, which has improved significantly since that time to counter several points more throughly than they were 10 years ago.

This article wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on when it was written, and it’s deprecated in value rather significantly since.

[tomsem]

But it is all ten years old, Carr’s book even older. A lot has changed since then even if some opinions have not. This is a fast moving target of study; I would want to see more current research.

[binaryhermit]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

We live in a world where Toddlers in Tiaras, Amish Mafia and The Real Housewives of... are things and The Transformers have become a blockbuster franchise.

And we're worried that it is e-books that are making us stupider?

I'm convinced that Ow! My Balls! will be a popular TV show in my lifetime.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

I'm convinced that Ow! My Balls! will be a popular TV show in my lifetime.

I have to admit, it might be refreshing to have President Camacho.

[kandwo]

I'd be very interested in reading studies comparing reading a novel and/or correctly formatted epub textbook on ereaders (e-ink) vs paper.

Reading the OP it seems they mixed Kindles with computers and textbooks/novels with webpages in general. It's a confusing mess.

I already know that screens (not counting e-ink) are bad for me and many others. This difference is not as noticeable with e-ink. But I still prefer paper and would choose it over e-ink every time if it was a question of only the reading factor (discounting practicality, etc.). It would be great to see if there actually is a difference and how big that difference is.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by kandwo

I'd be very interested in reading studies comparing reading a novel and/or correctly formatted epub textbook on ereaders (e-ink) vs paper.

Reading the OP it seems they mixed Kindles with computers and textbooks/novels with webpages in general. It's a confusing mess.

I already know that screens (not counting e-ink) are bad for me and many others. This difference is not as noticeable with e-ink. But I still prefer paper and would choose it over e-ink every time if it was a question of only the reading factor (discounting practicality, etc.). It would be great to see if there actually is a difference and how big that difference is.

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.

[theducks]

e-books can make you less strong compared to having to hold the dead tree version

[Mel]

As far as the college library with no books in it, I work at a college like that. Has nothing to do with a drive for new technology. We have to be accredited for the students to get student loans and the accrediting bodies have been demanding shorter and shorter ages on the books in the library. There just isn't the money to churn the entire contents every five to ten years. The only way to comply is to toss out all the books and buy computers and memberships to various depositories.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by theducks

e-books can make you less strong compared to having to hold the dead tree version

The Kindle DXG in a fake leather folio cover weighs a lot more than most (any?) of my paperbacks.

First time we moved house the moving company gave us used tea chests. We didn't realise filling them with books was a bad idea. They set them in the driveway at the destination!