Do you use digital platforms for reading? Well, it may change the way you think

Technology comes with its pros that provide us with innumerable options that can help us keep world on our finger tips. From reading, writing to almost everything digital platforms like computers, tablets, etc are of immense importance in today’s life. But somewhere the non-digital platforms are losing their charm.

According to scientists from Dartmouth College in US using digital platforms like laptops and tablets for reading and peering for information may have a direct correlation with the way you think (cognitive perception).

Digital media approach (tablets, laptops) for reading and writing makes you focus more on concrete details, just sifting the chunks of concrete information rather than interpreting information as one does in the non-digital platforms, such as newspapers, magazines, etc.

Scientists tested the basic question behind it-would processing the same information on a digital versus non-digital platform affect ‘construal levels’ - the fundamental level of concreteness versus abstractness that people use in perceiving and interpreting behaviours, events and other informational stimuli.

To find this out researchers used possible constant factors between the digital and non-digital platforms. For this, reading material and other content was published  using the same print size and format in both digital and non-digital (print) versions.

The participants used both the platforms and were then pop-quizzed and surprisingly, those who read in physical (non-digital) the same information were able to comprehend and extract the abstract information as compared to those who used digital platforms. This shows us the impact digital technology is having on our cognition.