Paper vs Digital Reading

I do not remember where I plucked this morality from, but for a long time I kept telling myself that any text that is ‘serious’ or worth-reading, should never be read on a computer screen. Such screens should only be used for journalistic and social-media texts.

I usually used to either buy books or spend entire days in the libraries. Later, when I began working, I used to sneakily print texts from the printer of the office I worked for. At times I even tried to print complete books that way, but, in installments of around 50 pages at a time. But the complete print never happened. Goethe’s Faust was one of the first instances I attempted it as I hadn’t been able to find it in any bookstores or libraries. 2–3 installments later, it was too much!

All this changed after COVID.

As has happened with a lot of people around the world, it made me paranoid and uncertain towards not only my future but of the entire world. To make a little more sense of it all, I began consuming more and more text each day. One thing led to another and three months after the 1st Lockdown down(up) here in Nepal, I quit all my jobs (I was working for three organizations) and decided to learn full time.

I will rather die hungry than live uncertain, was the kind of BS I told myself.

Soon after that idiotic decision, I realized that I had to consume a lot of texts and that meant, although I had allocated a lot of time for it, I also needed a lot of money!

Since installment printings and libraries were no longer an option and the books available in the Nepali market could no longer satisfy my increasing appetite for texts, and most importantly since I no longer could afford buying books as such — and as they say, necessity is the killer of all moralities, I decided to digital-read…I had to!

I mostly read on my laptop and occasionally on my phone. I have no experience of reading e-readers.

Here I have tried to see the differences between paper reading and digital-reading, primarily in order to know whether my initial morality had some valid reason to it or was it just some purists’ propaganda. Other reasons are there too…

The characteristics are randomly selected on the basis of what I think contributes to an effective reading experience.

Let’s begin.

• Attention and Distraction:

I find digital reading to be very distracting in comparison to paper reading. No not because of constantly popping notifications, as in my case I don’t get much of them. This distraction is due to the facility to jump around in internetically connected devices which can really divert you from the issue at hand.

When I am reading say, HG Wells’ A Short History of the World where he is talking about the temple of Serapeum set up by Ptolemy the First, it is so tempting to look-up Serapeum/Ptolemy on wikipedia which results in me easily getting lost in ancient religion and greek history. Although that will result in me have a more comprehensive understanding of those subjects, I lose sight of what I was actually understanding — I was not here to know in detail about the ancient egyptian gods, I was here to understand my world’s history — IN SHORT!!!

When I read the same book on paper, I merely underline the terms to look it up later (which I often forget to, thereby missing a lot of information). But it keeps the attention in the matter at hand. I can at least focus on the short history of the world.

This creates a tricky situation, to which I have come up with a solution (not disconnecting from the internet, it is not useful) which works for me in both forms of lengthy-reading. I have started to use an A4 sized paper for each book I read, in which I note down the important unknowns to be looked up later. Although going through all those points later also distracts me like hell, this way I can at least finish the book that is to be finished.

In regards to reading shorter works, I found digital-reading very appropriate. Attention doesn’t struggle much for such short spans.

• Highlighting and Annotations:

I am a chronic highlighter. Underliner. Hence, as a passionate person for such a dull thing, I really like screens.

Highlighting on a screen is such a free-flowing, guilty-free affair. You can do as much as you like, wherever you like, without having to worry about ruining the paper, the text, or draining the ink. All types of highlighting tools available in reading softwares I have tried have been good for me. I have liked the variety.

Annotation in screens though, especially in writing notes around the text, I find terrible. I know there are few apps trying to improve the experience but you’ve got to criticize where it is due. Annotating in paper is legendary in comparison both in terms of convenience and latter-reference tool.

In regards to note taking, paper reading makes it very difficult for me to take side notes as I use one of my hands to hold the book or the paper and the other to play with my beard as I immerse myself in the text. This helps me concentrate. Hence, I really don’t enjoy side-noting with paper.

With screens though, it is very convenient to place them somewhere and do whatever you like with your hands, having ample time and space to take notes.

• Page Turning

Turning pages of a book at times feels such an insignificant part of paper-book reading. We are so immersed in the content that we hardly notice turning them. This can also be fun and an experience in itself. At times I tend to enjoy just the fact that I am turning the pages, it feels so satisfying. Going through pages after pages in touch-devices also feels the same way.

But they are nothing compared to pressing the down arrow on the laptop. As of now, I have not found any enhancement of comprehension or experience to separate the two.

I recently tried the auto-scrolling feature and I got dizzy and hated it.

• Brightness and Texture

This is where paper wins it for me. I do not like the light coming out of my screens, nor am I fond of their texture. Papers are just amazing to look at and feel. When the surrounding is dark, papers become useless but I do not think it is very healthy to read deep things on light emitting devices with the lights turned off.

• Presence

This is also an area where papers/books win for me. Just their sheer presence is enough to beautifully remind you whatever/whoever you have read or are about to read from.

Screens for reading exist as multi-purpose things so they do not ooze laureate individuality. It is very important to have a thing that demands your attention while you are reading any work of substantial length and value, either via the characters inside it or via the author. You would want it to be there as a challenge for you to conquer or as a juice to drink. This is where specificity will do great. Screens are parts of devices that are, well, just devices owned by x or y company. The only thing they might bring forth might be the CEO of the manufacturing company.

I recently read two Dan Brown books. I read Inferno in hardcopy paperback and Origin in my laptop. While both had eccentric personalities along with Langdon, I just felt Origin’s billionaire had more to him then I could understand. I felt a void while reading it and after finishing it. I found myself constantly trying to locate the book in my room whenever I ‘subconsciously’ needed a symbol to remind myself of the ideas of — a philosophical billionaire, super I-AI, metaphysics through science, etc. Anytime I see my copy of Inferno, I am immediately reminded of WHO, overpopulation and bioweapons.

Such is the importance of presence. They not only help keep you in the idea that you are exploring, they also act as reminder tools once you have long moved on from the idea into something else. Hence, for the ideas that define you personally and you constantly need to play around with, it’s better to have such reminders. For example, if you love or work in the subjects of outer-space, it’s helpful to have a copy of Arthur C. Clarke’s Odyssey lying around.

• Inspiration from the characters/writer

Following on from the point above, we do get immensely inspired from the works we read through their characters and writers. A physical copy is a testimony of such inspiration, which screens fail to provide; unless in the form of wallpapers.

The paper or the book of your favorite character/writer who has a great impact on your personal and professional life, just lying there in your room where your eyes most strike, will do wonders to not just inspire you but also to motivate you, encourage you and provide that sense of perseverance. We are at a time where almost everyone is vying for our attention and our attention too doesn’t seem too keen on being loyal to us. Having a physical presence of what immensely matters to us and what we would like to pursue in spite of all the disturbances, will do great to us.

Conclusion: Those works I feel are important to me and will be so long-term in regards to my career, thoughts and life — I purchase the paper version. This significance can easily be known from the outset. For instance, by reading Notes from the Underground, I will know that Dostoevsky is such a writer that is/will be very significant to me, so I will buy The Idiot or The Karamazov Brothers in hardcopy books. Similarly, important short writings and article especially of philosophical and scientific significance or of philosophers/scientists that are significant to me, I will try to print and bind. There are so much of texts available that it may not be practical nor possible to have them all physically anyways. As for all the works I read, I keep an A4 paper and note down important concepts for later viewing.

There is another way to look at all this:

There is a great book on reading called How to read a book by Charles Van Doren. There he describes 4 levels of reading —

• Elementary-basic reading which is done in elementary school
• Inspectional- surface reading, which includes the art of skimming systematically
• Analytical-thorough, complete reading where the reader ought to ask many organized questions as to what is being read
• and Syntopical which is the most complex and systematic type of reading which includes reading many times, analyzing and comparing.

What we can do with this insight is that we can say to ourselves:

• any type of reading which is elementary and inspectional, I will fully digital-read it
• any type of analytical reading which involves ideas, characters/writers that have significant long-term impact on me in terms of my personal and professional life, I will paper read it. Others I can digital-read
• As for syntopical reading, I will try to manage it in paper as far as practical.

So that’s it. I now know that my initial morality had some valid reason to it.

I am now off to watch a video on YouTube!

Thanks for tuning in.