People have been reading on computer screens for several decades
now, predating popularization of personal computers and widespread
use of the internet. But it was the rise of eReaders and tablets
that caused digital reading to explode. In 2007, Amazon introduced
its first Kindle. Three years later, Apple debuted the iPad.
Meanwhile, as mobile phone technology improved and smartphones
proliferated, the phone became another vital reading platform.
In Words Onscreen, Naomi Baron, an expert on language and
technology, explores how technology is reshaping our understanding
of what it means to read. Digital reading is increasingly popular.
Reading onscreen has many virtues, including convenience, potential
cost-savings, and the opportunity to bring free access to books and
other written materials to people around the world. Yet, Baron
argues, the virtues of eReading are matched with drawbacks. Users
are easily distracted by other temptations on their devices,
multitasking is rampant, and screens coax us to skim rather than
read in-depth. What is more, if the way we read is changing, so is
the way we write. In response to changing reading habits, many
authors and publishers are producing shorter works and ones that
don't require reflection or close reading.
In her tour through the new world of eReading, Baron weights the
value of reading physical print versus online text, including the
question of what long-standing benefits of reading might be lost if
we go overwhelmingly digital. She also probes how the internet is
shifting reading from being a solitary experience to a social one,
and the reasons why eReading has taken off in some countries,
especially the United States and United Kingdom, but not others,
like France and Japan. Reaching past the hype on both sides of the
discussion, Baron draws upon her own cross-cultural studies to
offer a clear-eyed and balanced analysis of the ways technology is
affecting the ways we read today--and what the future might bring.
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