Why I Prefer Reading on Paper

It’s not that I dislike digital books. Most of my teaching resources are digitized now and I’m a big fan of educational websites like CommonLit, Newsela, Front Row Ed, and Actively Learn that allow my students to engage in live annotations and comments. When teaching and studying literature, digital resources beat out traditional paper books for me. When it comes to giving feedback, making annotations, or assessing what and how students learn by reading, digital resources offer much more than paper copies of articles or stories.

But when it comes to personal study and pleasure reading, I can’t let go of paper. I think my preference has something to do with how I read aloud to my daughter while she falls asleep. The single light bulb is dim and the room is shadowy. The best e-readers can’t capture the warmth of a lamp or the slightly textured feel of paper under my fingerprints. When I read “big kid” stories at night, it’s not just the words that add up to a soothing calm. Take away the light, the paper, the slow flip of the page and replace them with e-ink, and e-readers, and e-scrolling and the experience mirrors gearing up for work rather than the winding down of a shared bedtime routine.

When I read aloud, even though she’s only a toddler, I read middle grade and young adult books. The stories are full of imagery and lyrical language and I believe it’s important to hear words she won’t generally hear during the day to not only expand her vocabulary but, hopefully, expand her dreams. Right now, we are reading the latest Newbery winner, The Girl Who Drank The Moon by Kelly Barnhill. Reading about Barnhill’s fascinating descriptions of paper birds brought to life from a screen wouldn’t have the same impact.

I’ve heard the comparison that escalators didn’t replace stairs so e-books won’t replace paperbacks. I’m not sure the relationship between escalators and stairs is predictive of paper books versus digital devices, but I personally hope printed books hold on for a long while. At least long enough to have many, many more quiet nights of calming reading.

Which do you prefer? Screens or paper?