Paper book readers better at various abilities than e-book readers–survey

TOKYO — People who habitually read paper books tend to be more active in various matters and to think in a more multifaceted way than those who prefer to read books on electronic devices such as a smartphone or a computer, according to a recent survey by the National Institution For Youth Education, which was released Monday.

The survey on reading habits was conducted on 5,000 people in their 20s to 60s in February. For the first time in a survey of this kind, the respondents were divided into five groups depending on their reading habits, such as which medium they mainly use and how many hours they read. The groups are: 1) paper book readers; 2) those who read on an electronic handheld device; 3) those who read on a PC; 4) those who read on two or more electronic devices; and 5) those who hardly ever read books.

To appraise the respondents’ critical thinking and self-understanding abilities, the survey also asked for self-assessments on their ability to think multilaterally and logically, as well as to understand and be positive about themselves, with a maximum rating of 20 points. The average points of each group regarding each question were then compared with those of other groups.

As a result, the paper book group came out on top in all the questions, scoring 13.11 points in the ability to take self-directed action, 13.48 points in critical thinking ability and 14.02 points in self-understanding ability — prevailing over the three groups preferring electronic devices by a margin of from 0.22 points to 1.04 points. In all questions, those who hardly ever read got the lowest points.

“People who have a habit of reading possess such abilities regardless of the medium. But the survey has made it clearer that physical book readers are better in those abilities,” an official of the institution said.

Nevertheless, the number of people who read paper books is in gradual decline. In the survey, 49.8% of the respondents said the number of books they read in one month was zero, up 22 percentage points from the previous survey in 2013. On the other hand, those who said they read one or more electronic books in one month increased from the 2013 survey by 11 percentage points to 19.7%.