Back to basics: Are paper textbooks the way forward?
In an interesting turn of events, Sweden has decided to move away from digital textbooks and bring back paper books. Fifteen years ago, it was one of the first nations to go digital in classrooms. Now, it finds children’s attention, focus, and basic skills of reading and writing dwindling because of digital books, and is investing 104 million euros to reintroduce paper textbooks.
The National Agency for Education has been tasked with investigating the use-cases for digital devices, how they are being used both within and outside schools, and propose subsequent measures to help reduce their usage. The pre-school curriculum, which until now stipulated that every child should have access to digital tools, has been revised to ‘selective’ use of digital learning aids based on clear scientific value and recognised educational support.
The trend is also visible across some Finnish schools, where digital-centric learning is being dropped to enhance focus and reduce distractions and screen time among younger children. Similarly, educational authorities in Australia have expressed concerns over declining reading abilities among students, attributing this, at least in part, to increased exposure to screens. Experts are now encouraging reading from printed books and writing by hand as measures to combat these perils.
The Heritage School in Cambridge, United Kingdom, regarded as the only ‘screen-free school’ in the country, does not use laptops, mobile phones, internet, or interactive whiteboards for teaching and has recorded top results. It credits its superior academic outcomes to book-based learning, handwriting, and memorisation of poetry, nature walks, and greater emphasis on fine arts. The school considers its tech-free educational method to be ‘innovative’, and an article by Sunday Times highlights it as “a pioneer of the type of education many parents are desperately seeking for their children.”
Studies have documented a mutually reinforcing relationship between reading skills and recreational reading among children. Large-scale international surveys with children (10-11-year-olds; Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) and teenagers (15-year-olds; Programme for International Student Assessment) have found a significant drop in the number of children who report that they enjoy reading for pleasure—an indicator that reflects a decline in reading skills. Further, while the reading of physical books—with their long, linear texts—is on a decline, short, decontextualised snippets of multimedia content, such as social media, is increasing. This signals a need to reassess the role of e-textbooks in supporting effective learning within school education.
Cognitive focus and comprehension
Studies have shown that the physicality of a paper book offers whole, tangible experiences, such as holding the book, feeling the paper, and even turning the pages. This results in a deeper cognitive engagement, allowing readers to process information more thoroughly. E-books, which are ordinarily embedded with hyperlinks, have a scrolling format, and include multimedia features, are often engaging. However, they result in a loss of focus and comprehension due to digital distractions, particularly among younger readers. Online reading also impacts the behaviour and preferences of readers, negatively affecting their motivation to engage in slower, more contemplative, and effortful reading.
A comprehensive meta-analysis of 54 studies on comparative efficacy between paper versus screen reading, published between the years 2000 and 2017, confirms the inferiority of screen over paper reading. The results remained consistent despite differences in the methodological and theoretical frameworks of the reviewed articles and did not vary by factors like age group, educational level, text length, and type of comprehension assessed. The advantages of paper-based reading were particularly pronounced in time-constrained situations and in the context of informational (conceptual) texts.
Sensory engagement and interactivity
A review of 39 other studies highlights that the multimedia features of digital books, such as music and sound effects, animated pictures, and embedded dictionary, strengthen student engagement and motivation. However, the educational effectiveness of these features largely depends on their design and to what extent they are relevant. E-textbooks can also be adapted to different learning styles, making personalised learning in a diverse classroom easier to implement.
The review concluded that only if e-books are well designed and implemented, with adult mediation, can they possibly outweigh the advantages of paper. However, if paper and digital books are mostly similar, with few add-ons like voiceovers or popups in e-books, then printed books lead to better outcomes. Moreover, even though digital texts, with their interactive features, are better at engaging students, they often create only superficial engagement. This is because the attention span of students becomes fragmented due to multitasked reading, as opposed to a more distraction-free, focused, and absorbed reading of traditional texts.
Health considerations
Health-related studies on screen use in children have primarily focused on internet and social media addiction. Only a few could clearly delineate the potential health problems related to digital textbook usage. One such study found more than negligible physical and psychological health impediments in research students who have been using e-textbooks for at least a year. Physical concerns included visual (eye strain, drowsiness), musculoskeletal (pain in neck, wrist, or back), and dermatological (dry skin and eyes) issues. Psychological effects included increased stress, nervousness, anxiety, or frustration due to reduced interaction with educators, and technical errors or difficulties in navigating e-books. These resulted in a decreased ability to concentrate, something the students struggled to cope with by themselves. Given this, physical books—devoid of screen glare and backlighting, with a better scope for human interaction and simpler handling—offered a more relaxed reading experience for young bodies and minds.
Policy implications
While e-books certainly offer some benefits, including enhanced accessibility, more avenues for engagement, and a less resource-intensive framework, abandoning printed textbooks too quickly, without full empirical scrutiny of its long-term impacts, could be a misstep.
However, this does not mean eliminating digital textbooks completely. Instead, policies must aim to optimise learning outcomes by utilising a judicious mix, where technology complements fundamental learning from textbooks rather than overriding them. As screen-based reading is unavoidable, especially in higher education and workplaces, students also need to develop cognitive abilities and become ‘biliterate’, i.e., read, understand, and engage deeply with both paper and digital texts. This flexibility to move beyond paper and digital modalities will allow students to benefit from both formats. Therefore, instead of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, public policy should invest in understanding how learners relate to different kinds of pedagogy and teaching learning materials and how reading helps them find a sense of belonging in a rapidly evolving world. The future of education lies in using a dynamic mix of learning resources in both paper and digital mediums, aligned with the needs of the students, their contextual realities, and curriculum goals.
Arpan Tulsyan is Senior Fellow with the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy at the
Observer Research Foundation.