Reading on paper and screens: advantages, disadvantages, and digital divide

Abstract

The paper studies reading in the digital age and grounds characteristic reading features on paper and the screen. We studied various scientific points on the uniqueness of reading activities in various formats, effectiveness, and perception of readers about printed and electronic texts. The study concludes that screen-reading practices keep evolving. Digital reading dynamically changes the communication environment, speeding up and simplifying access to information. The new reading format has many opportunities and advantages, and it transforms the reading skills and habits of society. Although it revives social reading, it intensifies the digital divide, leading to a secondary mental cognitive digital divide, and modifies the personal reading experience of contemporaries.