Reading Modalities & Threats to Literacy lit psych

Reading Modalities

• Traditional paper books

• Audiobooks

• Ebooks

• Interactive platforms

Audiobooks

• Audio recordings of someone reading a book

• Decontextualized speech

• Opportunity to share as a group

• Can be paired with a physical book

E-Books

• Digital books that can be read on devices (phones, tables, ereaders)

• Sometimes include interactive features (e.g., multimedia, text-to-speech)

• Adjustable fonts and features to individualize

Interactive Platforms

• Apps, games, etc., meant to teach reading skills

• Come in many different forms

Socrates Objections to the Written Word

• 1. Inflexibility of the written word

  • Dialogue was central to the Socratic Method of asking probing questions to prompt critical thinking, but the written word was “dead language” lacking the back-and-forth power of “living speech”

• 2. Memory’s destruction

  • Before writing, the ancient Greeks transmitted their cultures orally, which required huge amounts of information be memorized

  • Although writing had benefits for cultural memory, it had risks to an individual’s memory skills and knowledge building

• “It will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks. What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory, but for reminder.”

• 3. The loss of control over language

  • Once written language was released, there would be no control over what would be written, who would read it, and how it would be interpreted

Key Findings Regarding Reading on Screens

• People spend more time reading

• Previously reading intensively was more common – focusing on one or a few sources (e.g., books) at a time

• Now people read extensively – reading all kinds of materials (e.g., articles, blogs) but much more quickly

• Now that screens have become more prevalent, people spend more

• time on:

  • Browsing, scanning, and keyword spotting

  • Non-linear reading (zig-zagging across the page rather than line by line)

  • More reading selectively (can’t read everything, so picking and choosing bits to read)

• And less time on:

  • In-depth reading and concentrated reading (deep reading)

  • Sustained attention (more likely to be interrupted with other tasks or demands for attention)

Novelty Bias

• We have an evolutionary bias to attend to new information

• Devices give us endless novelty

• Devices are designed to addict users

  • ”Persuasive design”

  • Takes advantage of these natural tendencies

  • Encourages users to spend more time on devices

Continuous Partial Attention

• The tendency to divide one’s attention between multiple things at once

• 90% of undergraduates said they were likely to multitask when reading onscreen, compared to 10% when reading in hard copy

Drawbacks of Continuous Partial Attention

• Shallow thinking and weaker learning

• Lower quality work

• Mental fatigue and burnout

• Increased stress and anxiety

• Reduced emotional presence

• Illusion of productivity

• Decreased creativity

• Habit-forming and self-reinforcing

Lasting Effects of Reading on Screens

• The more constant the digital stimulation, the more intense the boredom and innui experienced when they are gone

• The more we read digitally, the more our brain circuitry is tailored to that medium and how it is used

• “Bleeding over” effect of reading on a screen may impact how you read other information

Screens threaten reading because

• They can interfere with interaction

• They leave less free time for reading

• They are a distraction from reading

• They pose a risk to deep reading

Screens can interfere with interaction

• Interaction is the most important ingredient to language and literacy development

• Effect of screens depends on how much interaction the child gets otherwise

• Technoference = Technology + Interference

  • When technology interferes

  • with in-person interaction

• Managing Screen Time & Preventing “Technoference”

  • Set time limits

  • Designate screen-free times

  • Consume content together

How do kids spend their free time?

Screen Time & Academic Achievement

• Parents reported children’s total screentime, TV and digital media time, and video gaming time, which was compared to standardized academic tests from grade 3

• TV and digital media time and video game use were associated with lower

achievement levels in grade 3 reading

• Each additional hour of total screen time was associated with 9% to 10% lower

odds of achieving a higher academic level in grade 3 reading

How do kids use screens?

• Note: Only 4% of children’s screen time is spent reading

How many children read daily?

How much time do children spend reading?

Trade-offs Between Screen & Reading Time

• Children’s screen use and reading activities were assessed via maternal report at age 24, 36, and 60 months

• Greater screen use at 24 months was associated with lower reading at 36 months

• In turn, lower reading at 36 months was associated with greater screen use at 60 months

• A trade-off between screen use and reading was identified

• Early screen use was associated with lower reading activities, resulting in greater screen use at later ages

Neural Effects of Screens vs. Reading

• This study compared the time spent using screen-based media or reading on the functional connectivity of the reading-related brain regions in children aged 8–12

• Parents completed surveys on how many hours their children spent on independent reading and screen-based media time, including smartphones, tablets, desktop or laptop computers and television

• Children underwent magnetic resonance imaging that assessed their resting-state connectivity between the visual word form area (VWFA) and other brain regions

• The more time children spent reading, the higher the functional connectivity between the VWFA and language regions to visual and cognitive control regions

• In contrast, screen time was related to lower connectivity between the VWFA and regions related to language and cognitive control

Neural Effects of Screentime & Reading in Adolescents

There are adverse causal effects of screen use on language ability and specific behaviors in early adolescents, while reading has positive causal effects on their language ability and brain volume in the frontal and temporal regions

Even Background TV is a Distraction

Background TV is linked to…

• More TV watching

• Less interaction and smaller vocabulary size

• Reduced maternal language input — fewer words, fewer different words, and fewer questions directed at infants (Pempek et al., 2014)

• A pattern of interaction that persists within the family across time and settings

An Experimental Investigation

• A within-subjects study in which half the time a TV was on and half the time a TV was off as parent-child pairs played in the room

• Both the quantity and quality of parent–child interactions decreased when the TV was on, even though children paid little direct attention to it

• Parents were less verbally responsive, less attentive, and less actively involved in their child’s play with background TV

Screens can interfere with deep reading

• The type of attention we bring to reading can radically change our experience of it

• Reading deeply allows you to examine the information, compare it to what you know, and add new information to your knowledge store

• But those who have not collected a store or engaged in this kind of thinking do not know what they do not know

• Screens can interfere with adults’ ability to think deeply about what they read

• But for kids, the impact is much greater

  • They may never acquire skills in deep reading to begin with

Access isn’t Enough

• Philadelphia libraries sought to “level the playing field” for children of low-income households by providing increased access to computer and reading materials

  • Research examined use of these materials across neighborhoods of low-high SES

• Library access and use of resources was equivalent across SES

• Differences emerged in quality of time spent

• Differences in parent engagement according to SES

  • Children from low-SES neighborhoods were most often alone, whereas children in higher-SES neighborhoods were most often accompanied by an adult

• This difference in parent engagement was consistent across both computer and book resources

• Parent involvement was related to spending more time engaging in educational reading and computer activities at or above the child’s age level

Parental Involvement

• Parental involvement remains crucial, regardless of the modality, in guiding comprehension and fostering a love of reading

• Screens, when used purposefully, can support literacy development

Reading on Electronic Devices

• Read it like a regular book (using dialogic reading)

• Don’t get hung up on the tech

  • Research shows that parents spend lots of time discussing tech features and how to use it

• Avoid using tech to take your place

  • Kids can get limited benefits from screen use on their own

  • Beware the “read to me” feature

Adding Value to Screen Time

• Kids can get more from screen time when it’s interactive

• Viewing alone may not lead to learning, even when content is educational

• Educational content is best if it is:

  • Slow

  • Repetitive

  • Realistic

  • Contingent

My Favorite Tip…

• Read books together and then watch the movie!

• Some great book/movie pairs:

  • Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

  • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

  • Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

  • The BFG by Roald Dahl

Screens in Kids’ Bedrooms = Not Good

• Research has found only negative effects associated with screens in children’s bedrooms. E.g.,…

  • More overall screen use

  • Less physical activity

  • Higher levels of obesity

  • Less sleep

  • Lower quality sleep