Print reading versus digital reading: what counts as literacy?

July 27, 4:51 PMParenting ExaminerKaren Deerwester

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Is that a book or a kindle?

The front page of the Sunday New York Times (July 27, 2008) poses a hot-button question to parents with this story title:  Literacy Debate: Online: R U Really Reading?

I get it; I really get it!  Neil Postman told us decades ago that the invention of the printing press changed the world - from how we think to the length of childhood.  Reading changes your brain into a logical-language decoder.  Words on a page are more permanent than conversation; they can be studied, dissected and inspire centuries of discussion.  Words on a page can also change power and politics for anyone with access.  And, of course, I love my books and solitary time to lounge around with words and ideas.  I love well-chosen phrases, creative story telling and in-depth reporting with thoughtful commentary.  Literature and scholarship define an enduring culture.  For those reasons, parents and teachers will eternally defend certain kinds of reading.

But conversations about reading are notorious for bringing out the elitist in bookophiles.  I remember, before the New York Times worried about Nadia trading in her books for www.fanfiction.net, others were questioning the value of reading comic books (ahem...graphic novels) and the literary value of Golden Books for preschoolers.  We may love our books but reading is a means to many ends.  And parents should approach this debate with a respect for individual differences and an appreciation for different forms of communication and knowledge.

Print reading develops concentration and a certain kind of linear analysis.  Digital reading encourages collecting information from multiple sources and creates shared communities that defy geographic boundaries.   Reading is good - whether it's digital or it's a cereal box. Parents will have to monitor the trade-offs of either-or and all-or-nothing experiences.  Great print readers may be computer challenged and the digital readers may miss out on the smell of a library book (thank you Carrie Bradshaw).  What remains true is that all literacy requires understanding, scrutiny and recall.  Yes, as developmental psychologist Maryanne Wolf says - we are what we read and we are how we read.  But to me, why we read still matters most of all.

Here are two books on the subject with more food for discussion:

• Parenting Well in a Media Age, by Gloria De Gaetano
• Failure to Connect, by Jane Healy. 

And don't miss The Atlantic.com's - Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Read Google's Eric E. Schmidt's comments on the subject.