A recent article in the NYT, “Finding your Book Interrupted…By the Tablet You Read It on.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/business/media/e-books-on-tablets-fight-digital-distractions.html?_r=1&ref=books calls attention to some of the drawbacks of reading on a device.
“Finding your Book Interrupted” speaks to the distracting nature of reading on a device. Children reading books they hold in their hands encourage then to acquire the habit of reading and help establish good reading and comprehension skills.
I watch children reading digitally and I see how multi-tasking and distraction are part of that experience. Offering children digitally interactive book brings up other issues as well.
I recently looked at the popular Alice and Wonderland digital book app and I found it difficult to get to the story— which took a back seat to the inter active nature of the app.
Offer children a book they hold in their hands with a great story they can get lost in –and let them use their own imagination to conjure up the sounds, sights and smells the story evokes. .
My worry is that children reading on digital devices are losing some of the essential qualities of reading—the ability to concentrate deeply, reflect and peruse meaning.
