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The Decline Of Reading Speeds

By Robert Swartwood on July 6, 2010

People reading 10.7% slower when reading on a Kindle as opposed to a print book, and 6.2% slower when reading on an iPad, according to a study released Friday by the Nielsen Normalcy Group.

The study tested 24 readers using a story by Ernest Hemingway (the report doesn’t say which story), “because his work is pleasant and engaging to read, and yet not so complicated that it would be above the heads of users.”

It also asked participants to rate thier satisfaction with the devies “on a 1–7 scale, with 7 being the best score. iPad, Kindle, and the printed book all scored fairly high at 5.8, 5.7, and 5.6, respectively. The PC, however, scored an abysmal 3.6.”

The above is taken from Electric Literature’s twitter feed, which is a link from MobyLives. And it’s quite interesting. The only e-reading device I use now is the Kindle app on my Android phone (currently I’m reading The Spot by David Means), and while I’m quite happy with the experience — especially the fact that I have something to read wherever I go — I notice that the speed of my reading does decrease somewhat. One thing I realized is that it’s next to impossible to skim boring passages, at least on such a small screen that I use (nothing boring so far in the Means collection, but if I wanted to, that would be a different story). Maybe it’d be different on a Kindle or iPad, though not by much. This, of course, is the future of reading, and I think over time people will be able to adapt to it. The transition phase will take a while, at least for people (namely adults) who have come to embrace traditional paper books. Of course, with the lack of being able to skim boring passages, it will make readers even more aware of their reading choices and do a better job of skipping the poorly written books, and force writers to write better. Or so we can only hope.

Posted in | 7 Responses

  • http://www.rarelylikable.com Erin

    I’ve absolutely noticed this on the iPad, so I don’t think it has much to do with the size of the reading screen. I would wager it has more to do with how e-readers completely reinterpret the concept of pages. Most of the time, *where* one is in a book is invisible. And flipping around a book is unwieldy at best. I wonder what the outcome would be if Kindle software included, say, a visible and touch-active crosscut of pages at the bottom of the screen.

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  • Robert Swartwood

    Good point, Erin. I think a lot of readers nowadays page ahead to see how many pages there are in a chapter or story or whatever. I know I sometimes do it, depending on how much time I have right then to read. This, I think, is why someone can tear through a 400 page James Patterson book in a day or two, while it might take them a week or more to go through a 400 page book by an author whose chapters are maybe ten pages long. Right now, it’s impossible for me to tell how long a David Means story will be until I finally go through it, which, I will admit, can be a little frustrating.

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  • http://charlesgramlich.blogspot.com Charles Gramlich

    I haven’t noticed a decline in my reading speed on Kindle. I’ve read quite a bit on it by now. I wonder if some of it is simply getting used to the process of the device. and some may be the ability to change font size. Interseting though. I’d like to see more research.

    I hope you get a chance to check out my blog for the “Killing Trail” book release party.

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  • Robert Swartwood

    Charles — re: release party, you bet.

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  • http://www.jadewalker.com Jade Walker

    I actually experience the opposite effect. Since buying my Kindle, I’ve probably read twice as many books as last year. I’m also more likely to read several books at a time.

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  • Robert Swartwood

    Jade — I’ve heard that people with Kindles generally buy more books and read more, too, but does it have any affect on your reading speed? The difference might be so small that it’s impossible to tell. Of course, the study was just with a number of people; I’m sure there are some readers whose reading speeds don’t change at all, or might become faster.

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  • http://www.jadewalker.com Jade Walker

    I think Charles is right; it just takes a bit of time to get used to viewing books on a screen. Once you do, reading speeds tend to be the same or faster than reading on the page. Of course, I could just be the exception to study’s rule. *smile*

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