3 ms·

Reading on a smartphone lowers reading comprehension

• webmaven 5y ago
  An interesting study, and the researchers did an admirable job in trying to control confounding factors, but: If I understand the setup correctly, the participants were given the writing sample to hold. While there was no effect on viewing distance, no mention of the participants' posture was made, beyond the fact that their torso and arms were secured. Head position therefore remains a possible variable, and craning your head forward (possibly a learned response to smartphone use) would definitely have an effect on respiration. The researchers controlled for text size, but there is no mention of the typeface used, nor of the resolution of the printed sample. Even assuming the same typeface, by default print is significantly higher resolution than screens, even modern smartphone screens, and the typeface used can exacerbate this considerably. The paper suggests blue light as a possible cause of the effect seen in this study, calling for additional study (of course), but no mention was made of any attempt to control the overall brightness or contrast of the screen vs. paper, neither in absolute terms nor relative to the ambient environment. Slightly different ambient conditions could easily result in either the screen or the paper appearing brighter and/or higher contrast.