Print vs Digital: Why Print is still important to us
Opening a book lets us explore a subject and completely immerse ourselves in it, unlike most media today. Before tablets, laptops and iPhones, books were a main source of entertainment. With the world seemingly quieter during this pre-digital era, people had the space and time to bury themselves inside a book, and appreciate the stories and images. Despite our digitally dominated universe, print continues to hold a certain power over us as curious learners, emotional beings and seekers of nostalgia.
How Taking in Print Affects our Brains vs. Digital
Louis Vuitton Creative Director Nicolas Guesguire via Vogue.com
With our phones and other devices in hand’s reach, more media is now consumed digitally. However, print still remains a major form of entertainment and gathering information in today’s society.
New research from a study conducted by Temple University consumer neuroscience researchers shows that content on paper affects our brains in different and stronger ways than digital formats.
Researchers found that digital ads were processed more quickly, but paper ads engaged viewers for longer periods of time. Also, subjects showed greater emotional response and memory for physical media ads along with more brain activity associated with value and desire.
While these findings cannot prove that paper beats digital, print allows extra time for the viewer to fully process, reflect and remember the information or visuals presented. It stimulates parts of our beings that remain untouched by digital content.
Distracting notifications and the impulse to keep scrolling takes away from our consumption of digital media. The extra moments we give to print help our brains form a deeper relationship to the content. We can take something valuable away from it which can help us shape our views, fulfill our interests, and share valuable knowledge with others.
In the Temple University study, subjects reported no preference for either medium, but we believe print will never disappear.
The Nostalgia of Print
56 Days in Arles by Francois Halard
Innately, many of us are nostalgic creatures, finding joy in items from childhood’s past and musing over memories. It’s a necessary emotion that can help us connect to our authentic selves by reminding us of where we have been in comparison to who we are today.
“I think nostalgia is very quickly replaced with convenience,” says writer and photographer Craig Mod.
Although convenient, digital media lacks the bearings of nostalgia, given advanced technology’s young life span. It’s hard to pick up the phone or open a laptop and be transported back in time, to a place of comfort and fondness because these devices are still so new to society.
Coffee table books help fulfill that nostalgia need, with images of special moments snapped from the past, of artists we’ve loved for so long, or relatable visuals that dig up a pleasant memory from our past.
Despite the ever changing awe of digital, it can’t compare to the magic provided by the books, photographs and words that we can always refer back to and rely on to never change.
The Magic of Print & Coffee Table Books
“I want to be absorbed by a book in a way that is actual page-turning, not pixel-moving finger flips,” says writer Alexis Bouncy in “Why I Still Love Actual Paper Books”.
Reading digitized text on a screen can quickly become irritating considering tiny words, sun glare, and distractions from constant notifications. E-readers don’t hold the same tangible effect that a book with pages has, and social media feeds are modeled to keep us mindlessly scrolling.
Our devices are essentially extremely complicated tools when compared to a physical book. The focus is on the unlimited content provided by the device, over the particular images and words and the feelings they provoke. There’s no magical effect these devices have over our emotions and being.
“Although our lives are becoming more and more online, we still exist in a tangible world and most of our important and immediate experiences happen in physical space,” reads “The Great Print vs. Digital Debate.”
Coffee table books exist in our real world and can be viewed and emotionally experienced directly. Having stacks of books over a folder of saved images on a laptop can hold more accessible sentimental value. When we decorate our homes with these books, we fill our physical living space with collections of nostalgic images, personal interests and endless inspiration.
Opening a coffee table book is a pleasurable act of surrendering ourselves to the contents of the book, there's no option to mindlessly scroll by. While a digital device holds infinite distractions, screen time becomes monotonous and addictive. We lose the impact the content is meant to give. With a book, that magical and emotional takeaway remains.
