Why Books Still Beat Screens — And What It Means for Your Child
A groundbreaking study from neuroscientists at Columbia University’s Teachers College has confirmed what many parents and educators have long suspected — reading on paper is more effective for comprehension than reading on screens.
The research comes alongside alarming findings from a US Department of Education survey showing that the comprehension skills of 13-year-old students declined by an average of four points since the pre-Covid school year of 2019-2020. Researchers have drawn a direct connection between this decline and the steady rise of digital learning tools in classrooms.
The study found evidence of deeper semantic encoding for print than digital texts — meaning children don’t just read better on paper, they understand and retain more of what they read.
Neuroscientists at Columbia University’s Teachers College showed there is a clear advantage to reading text on paper rather than on a screen, where shallow reading was observed.
At Epic Journeys Publishing, this is exactly why we create physical and print-ready books designed to engage young minds meaningfully — from tracing numbers to discovering the history of language.
Written by James
Epic Journeys Publishing is a small collective of writers, teachers, designers and creators. We make educational books and resources for children that are thoughtful, engaging and genuinely helpful.
