literacy & dyslexia

Digital Reading and Technology

“The most important issue in the transition from a literacy-based culture to a digital one is whether the time- and cognitive-resource-demanding requirements of the deep reading processes will be lost or atrophied in a culture whose principal mediums advantage speed, multitasking, and the continuous processing of the ever-present next piece of information.”

Maryanne Wolf

One of the major challenges for the next generation involves the wise use of technology as it relates to human development, beginning in the first year of a child’s life and continuing throughout adulthood.

To develop “digital wisdom” requires a concerted effort by researchers from various disciplines to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the different mediums and a deeper understanding of their uses or attributes.

Research Findings

One aspect of our work involves a multi-pronged approach to understanding what each medium for reading promotes, disrupts, or diminishes at various stages of development and for various populations.

• The early stages of this work suggest that young children from 0 to 5 experience changes in attention with increased exposure to digital devices with consequences for developing language (Hutton et al., 2020).
• Research on adolescents and young adults shows better comprehension for written content with print mediums, despite the youth’s perception that they read better on screens because they are faster (Delgado et al., 2018; Baron, 2022; Wolf, 2018).

A consequence of COVID-19 has been the broader use of educational technologies, yet there exists insufficient evidence regarding the impact of these media on learning at different ages and in different populations.

• For example, our own research suggests that “deep reading” processes like critical analysis and empathy can be short-circuited when skimming, scrolling, and word-spotting if reading on a screen (Wolf, 2018).
• On the other hand, the use of digital technology can provide opportunities for practice, supplementary knowledge, and different modes of learning content for struggling readers.

The implications of how we all read and process information go well beyond the classroom. To address some of the many issues involved in this area, members of the Collaborative are working to disseminate current knowledge not only for our children, but for our society.

As noted in the module, the definition of dyslexia is evolving to reflect the latest research, including the multiple causes and manifestations of dyslexia. To this end, our team is working towards a more comprehensive definition.

Research and Resources

Baron, N. (2022). How We Read Now. New York: Oxford University Press.

Delgado, P., Vargas, C., Ackerman, R., & Salmerón, L. (2018). Don’t throw away your printed books: A meta-analysis on the effects of reading media on reading comprehension. Educational Research Review, 25, 23-38.

Hutton, J. S., Dudley, J., Horowitz-Kraus, T., DeWitt, T., & Holland, S. K. (2020). Associations between screen-based media use and brain white matter integrity in preschool-aged children. JAMA Pediatrics, 174(1), e193869-e193869.

Lovett, M. W., Frijters, J. C., Wolf, M., Steinbach, K. A., Sevcik, R. A., & Morris, R. D. (2017). Early intervention for children at risk for reading disabilities: The impact of grade at intervention and individual differences on intervention outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(7), 889–914. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000181

Rhinehart, L., Vazquez, S. R., & Greenfield, P. M. (2022). The impact of screen-free zones in an undergraduate psychology classroom: Assessing exam performance and instructor evaluations in two quasi-experiments. Teaching of Psychology, 49(4), 323–328.

Wolf, M. (2018). Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World. New York: HarperCollins.

Wolf, M., Rhinehart, L., & Gotlieb, R. The impact of digital mediums on the development of critical analysis and empathy: Insights from neuroscience and Aristotle. (2022). Changing Media in a Changing World, D.E.,Vigano, S. Zamagni, & M.Sanchez-Sorondo (Eds.), Vatican: Libraria Editrice Vaticana, 77-92.