Reading from computer screen versus reading from paper: does it still make a difference?

Abstract

Four experiments were conducted to test whether recent developments in display technology would suffice to eliminate the well-known disadvantages in reading from screen as compared with paper. Proofreading speed and performance were equal for a TFT-LCD and a paper display, but there were more symptoms of eyestrain in the screen condition accompanied by a strong preference for paper (Experiment 1). These results were replicated using a longer reading duration (Experiment 2). Additional experiments were conducted to test hypotheses about the reasons for the higher amount of eyestrain associated with reading from screen. Reduced screen luminance did not change the pattern of results (Experiment 3), but positioning both displays in equal inclination angles eliminated the differences in eyestrain symptoms and increased proofreading speed in the screen condition (Experiment 4). A paper-like positioning of TFT-LCDs seems to enable unimpaired reading without evidence of increased physical strain.

Practitioner Summary: Given the developments in screen technology, a re-assessment of the differences in proofreading speed and performance, well-being, and preference between computer screen and paper was conducted. State-of-the-art TFT-LCDs enable unimpaired reading, but a book-like positioning of screens seems necessary to minimise eyestrain symptoms.

Keywords:

• TFT-LCD
• iPad
• proofreading
• eyestrain
• display inclination

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The options ‘exclusively and as often as possible on paper’ and ‘on paper rather than on screen’ were merged into the classification ‘preferring paper’. Similarly, the options ‘exclusively and as often as possible on screen’ and ‘on screen rather than on paper’ were merged into the classification ‘preferring screen’.

2. Given that (a) the short stories that we used can be found on the Internet and (b) that the proofreading task is a frequently used experimental task, participants might have felt familiar with the task or some of the texts. The questions were included to test whether there were any differences in familiarity between the groups.