Book Pain Syndrome Turned Digital

By Allison Robinette

An avid reader like myself, and many other bookworms, have suffered from Book Pain Syndrome. If someone is the type of person that says that they can find a comfortable position to read, then chances are that they are fibbing. And if they are not lying, then I truly envy them. Whether they are the type of person that likes to read eBooks on their Kindle or the type of person that likes the aesthetics of reading a paperback book, they will most likely suffer from some sort of physical pain.

Researchers suggest that readers who use eBooks or read digital text, as opposed to print text, comprehend less knowledge of the material and information. The reasoning behind this suggestion is that screen based reading is both more physically and mentally taxing to the brain (Wästlund et al.), according to a study by the University of Karlstad and the University of Gothenburg in Sweden (World’s highest level of Information and Communication Technology- ICT), by Erik Wästlund, Henrik Reinikka, Torsten Norlander, and Trevor Archer.

The participants in the study were told to split into two separate groups. The first group had to read a document that was displayed on a computer monitor. They had to answer a questionnaire based on the document that they read; they were all instructed to answer the questionnaire honestly and to only answer the questions that they remembered from the document. The questions were answered through a digital answer-pad. The next day, the participants of the second group were asked to do the same questionnaire after reading the same document in the manner that the first group did the proceeding day. However, this time, the document was a print copy instead of a digital copy (Wästlund et al.). The results of the study suggested that the group presented with the paper copy of the document produced more correct answers than the group that read the document on a computer screen. The results also suggested that the participants in the first group showed higher signs of stress, fatigue, and hunger during the reading and the questionnaire as they attempted to retain the information that they had just read in the digital form of the document (Wästlund et al.).

In general, prolonged reading on devices with a glossy, self-illuminated screens like computers, cell phones, iPads, and tablets can cause eye strain, headaches, and blurred-vision (Jabr 1). However, this may not be the case for some. Other readers might suffer from the same physical effects, but instead of being caused by reading digital print, it is from reading actual print text. Of course, there are some advantages to reading digitally. For instance, downloading eBooks are extremely easy and fast! Someone with a mobility impairment may have difficulties trying to find a way to the bookstore, but if they download a digital copy of a book, they would not have to find a way to transport to the bookstore. For more advantages of eBooks, this link will take you directly to “The Benefits and Advantages of eBooks”.

Overall, digital text has proven to be more difficult to read and retain than printed text. As the world has gone digital, it is time to start proposing methods and strategies to help people read better digitally. Personally, I prefer to read things via print because I suffer from chronic migraines due to several concussions that I had in my past, so I cannot sit in front of a computer screen for very long without feeling nauseous or dizzy. I can give out advice that can help avid readers like myself obtain from the suffering of Book Pain Syndrome, turned to Digital Pain Syndrome. Here is a short list of a few things that I have tried:

For small print, use reading glasses or magnifying glass.
If reading digital text, turn brightness down on device (some devices have a blue shade setting).
Do not read for prolonged periods of time. Take breaks as needed!
Rest head and neck comfortably on a pillow.
Lastly, do not try and read in the dark. Make sure to have a sufficient amount of light.