A four-year project examining the results of 54 research studies with 170,000 people has concluded that print is vital for effective education.

The argument that reading on paper results in deeper comprehension and retention, concentration, vocabulary building and memory has been given immense weight by a groundbreaking study by Intergraf, the European federation for print and digital communication.

The research examined the results of 54 studies with a total of over 170,000 participants from 19 countries, and found overwhelming evidence that comprehension of text is much stronger when reading from paper as opposed to a screen, particularly when the reader is under time pressure.

Concerned by the effect of increased time spent reading from screens in schools, the international trade body has called upon policymakers and educational organizations at both national and European levels to ensure that print retains a significant role within education.

Better progress with print

Titled E-READ (Evolution of Reading in the Age of Digitisation), the Intergraf study is a thorough project. Taking place over four years, it involved a network of almost 200 academics from all over Europe carrying out empirical research and debates about the effects of digitization on reading, especially for students and young people.

“Students learning from digital devices only progressed one third as much as they would have done had they been reading on paper”

E-READ found that print readers have a better recall of the relationship between events and are able to reconstruct the plot of a text better than screen readers. It was also found that the advantage for print was greater under time constraints and that scrolling resulted in a significant disadvantage for digital reading.

With regard to education, the digital disadvantage during elementary school was found to be two-thirds of the yearly increase in reading comprehension, meaning that students potentially only progressed one-third as much as they would have done had they been reading on paper instead of on a screen.

Paper a technology of proven strengths

The fact that young people only learn one-third as well when reading from a digital device is clearly alarming, and so Intergraf have called for urgent action to be taken at all levels to “ensure that education in Europe is not degraded by the rapid and unsubstantiated introduction of screen reading in schools”.

The statement continues: “The development of students’ reading comprehension and critical thinking skills must be immediately safeguarded. A failure to act on the advice given in such studies creates an immediate risk that students’ learning outcomes will be negatively affected by the increasing tendency of schools in Europe to promote reading on digital devices without the necessary tools and strategies to ensure this does not cause a setback in reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. Products that are proven to facilitate comprehension and critical thinking, such as paper books and other printed informational texts, already exist and should not be overlooked. Paper is a technology of proven strengths.”

Urgent action required

The results of the Intergraf study and their recommendations entirely chimes with the work of Two Sides and the results of our recent study into people’s preference for print. The study, titled Busting The Myths, found that 68% of US consumers preferred to read books in print, with 65% preferring print for magazines and 53% for print newspapers.

There are many studies that show that reading in print improves the understanding of information, as well as memory and recall, which is essential for the education of people of all ages, but especially for young people. This Intergraf study is a vital piece of work that proves that print has great advantages over digital for learning. Let’s hope the governments and institutions are listening.

For more information about the Intergraf E-READ study, click here

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This is your brain on print.

“Switching off” and turning to print is better for your health and it may also be the answer to a good night’s sleep.

From: Two Sides [ https://twosidesna.org/US/what-is-electronic-media-doing-to-our-health/ ]

The prevalence and use of electronics in all aspects of daily life is steadily increasing with the average U.S. adult spending 6.3 hours each day with digital media, over half of which is spent on their smartphones. The number is even higher, up to 9 hours per day, for teens.^{1, 2}

According to a 2019 Two Sides sponsored study conducted by Toluna, there is mounting evidence that consumers are feeling digital overload and the long-term negative health effects of electronic overuse.³

In the U.S. and Canada, 53 and 52% of respondents, respectively, are concerned that the overuse of electronic devices could be damaging to their health. Similar numbers, 49% and 46% believe they spend too much time on electronic devices.  Finally, 31% of American respondents and 27% of Canadians feel they are suffering from “digital overload.”

Too much screen time can indeed affect your health. Digital eye strain (DES), also known as computer vision syndrome, includes symptoms such as headaches, double vision, blurred distance vision, irritated or burning eyes, dry eyes and tired eyes.  Estimates suggest 50% or more of computer users suffer from at least one of these symptoms while they are looking at a screen.⁴ A study that compared reading on a screen to reading on paper noted that after reading from a smartphone, eye strain symptoms were significantly worse than for the printed hardcopy.⁵  Scientists are wondering how much of the recent and alarming rise in myopia (nearsightedness or difficulty seeing distant objects clearly) is due to too much screen time. If current trends continue, 50% of the world’s population will be myopic by 2050.⁶

One thing researchers do agree on is the harmful effects of reading from screens on sleep.⁷  Several years ago, a National Sleep Foundation survey found that 90% of Americans reported using light-emitting devices within an hour of going to bed and greater use was associated with worse sleep outcomes at all ages. Users may sleep less, sleep patterns can be disrupted, and daytime sleepiness increased.^8,9  And all those changes in sleep can have detrimental effects on our well-being and the nationwide impact to long-term brain health is potentially large.¹⁰

The light emitted from electronic devices is enough to disrupt sleep patterns, negatively impacting concentration and brain development. This is especially important for children where the quality of sleep is necessary for mental development.¹¹

A recent study conducted by the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) shows supporting evidence that a greater-than-average screen time promotes a greater chance of developing attention problems. A correlation between excessive screen time and attention deficiencies is clear.¹²

Too much screen time has also been linked to increases in anxiety and depression, shortened attention spans and a variety of other negative effects on our well-being although evidence is often contradictory.

We evidently understand that too much screen time can be bad for us. There is also a clear preference among the Two Sides survey respondents to enjoy the “offline” world with 71% of Americans and 68% of Canadians believing in the importance of “switching off” and reading more in print.

Picking up a book, magazine or newspaper may be the ticket to relaxation and a good night’s sleep, not to mention getting immersed in your subject.  The preference for reading in print by a majority of consumers was reflected in the Toluna study which found that 68% of Americans and Canadians prefer reading a book in print (versus digital).  For magazines, the preference for print was 65% for the U.S. and 59% for Canada.

Detailed results of the Toluna survey can be found at https://twosidesna.org/survey

______________

¹ Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends report: All the slides and highlights. https://qz.com/1640910/mary-meekers-2019-internet-trends-report-highlights/

² Teens spend an average of 9 hours a day with media. https://globalnews.ca/news/2314977/teens-spend-an-average-of-9-hours-a-day-with-media/

³ Toluna and Two Sides, 2019. https://twosidesna.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2019/06/Two-Sides-Busting-the-Myths-Report-2019-USA-final-2.pdf

⁴ Sheppard, A. and Wolffsohn, J. 2018. BMJ Open Ophthalmology. https://bmjophth.bmj.com/content/3/1/e000146?utm_source=trendmd&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=alljjs&utm_content=americas&utm_term=1-B

⁵ Antona et al. 2018. Symptoms associated with reading from a smartphone in conditions of light and dark. Applied Ergonomics 68: 12-17 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003687017302351

⁶ Long, E. 2018. Evolutionary medicine: Why does the prevalence of myopia significantly increase? Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, Volume 2018, Issue 1, 2018, Pages 151–152. https://academic.oup.com/emph/article/2018/1/151/5046312

⁷  Makin, S. 2018. Searching for digital technology’s effects on well-being. Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07503-w

⁸ Hale, L and Guan, S. 2015. Screen time and sleep among school-aged children and adolescents: A systematic literature review. Sleep Medicine Reviews 21:50-58 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1087079214000811

⁹ Gradisar, M. et al. 2013. The sleep and technology use of Americans: findings from the National Sleep Foundation’s 2011 Sleep in America poll. J. Clin. Sleep Med. 9: 1291– 1299.

¹⁰ https://www.sleepybliss.com/tips-guides/how-electronics-affect-sleep/?msID=236f8bea-7048-42b1-aed9-4cb5c88bdb72

¹¹ National Sleep Foundation. Electronics in the Bedroom: Why it’s Necessary to Turn Off Before You Tuck In – https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/electronics-bedroom-why-its-necessary-turn-you-tuck

¹² MedicineNet.  Too Much Screen Time Can Threaten Attention Span. https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=117789

After a decade of R&D, its Opté beauty wand gives a targeted, diagnostic approach to putting makeup on your skin.

Source: Bloomberg

Inkjet printers aren’t often ­associated with luxury, beauty, and luminosity. But Opté, a handheld makeup printer for your face, promises to deliver exactly those things. With tiny cameras that take photos at 200 frames per second, Opté quickly scans for blemishes such as age spots and hyper­pigmentation, then covers them precisely as you run the device over your skin. It clicks ­quietly as it goes, shooting out pigment, to instantly camouflage for the day, and also a serum containing niacinamide, a form of vitamin B3 designed to fade imperfections such as dark spots in 8 to 12 weeks.

“It’s about not looking fake,” says Becky Kaufman, a group head in R&D at P&G Ventures, a division of Procter & Gamble Co. in Cincinnati. The target consumer is anyone who wants the look of flawless skin without the appearance of wearing ­foundation—men or women who are looking to have the natural translucence of their skin show through.

Made of 350 components, the high-tech device took more than 25 patents to develop, at a company better known for affordable skin-care products such as Olay and Ivory soap. Not only did inkjet printer technology have to be miniaturized, but P&G Ventures solved a problem that had long stymied the ink industry: how to suspend the whitening agent titanium dioxide, which usually sinks to the bottom of a mixed fluid. It took a decade to overcome this hurdle, which finally got worked out in a partnership with Japan’s Funai Electric Co.

P&G’s three formulas for Opté, designed to cover light-, medium-, and dark-toned skins, are intended to work for about 98% of tones. If the 98% can afford it. The device will go on sale in 2020 for roughly $599. “It’s the most premium beauty product we’ve developed,” P&G Ventures spokeswoman Lauren Thaman says.

By Alexandra Alter

Dec. 23, 2018 || NEW YORK TIMES

This year has been, much to everyone’s surprise, a blockbuster for the publishing industry. Despite the relentless news cycle, readers have bought books in droves. Hardcover sales are up, and unit sales at independent bookstores have risen 5 percent. Multiple titles — Bob Woodward’s “Fear,” Bill Clinton and James Patterson’s “The President Is Missing” and Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” — have passed the million-copy mark, while there is also a surprisingly strong appetite for literary fiction.

But what should be good news for publishers, agents and authors has created headaches during the crucial holiday sales season, as printing presses struggle to keep up with a surge in demand, creating a backlog that has led to stock shortages of popular titles.

Several of this year’s most critically acclaimed novels, including Lisa Halliday’s “Asymmetry,” Richard Powers’s “The Overstory” and Rebecca Makkai’s “The Great Believers,” were listed as out of stock on Amazon the week before Christmas after inventory ran low because publishers could not to reprint copies quickly enough. Best-selling and critically lauded nonfiction titles like David W. Blight’s biography of Frederick Douglass, Samin Nosrat’s cookbook “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” and Ben Reiter’s “Astroball” were also unavailable on Amazon, with some titles showing shipping dates of two to four weeks from now.

The industrywide paper jam has been building for months — a result of shrinking and consolidation among printing companies, the collapse of one of the major printers this summer, global paper shortages and a tightening job market that’s made it difficult for printers to hire additional seasonal workers. But it has become increasingly acute and visible at the industry’s peak sales season, when consumers are shopping for must-read titles to give as gifts, and finding that Amazon’s virtual shelves are bare.

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