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Comment by sdan | Hacker News Reader

I'm curious as to why. Would e-ink make a difference? What's there to learn differently from screen to paper?

There's like three different answers given here, and none of them mention distraction, I find it functionally impossible to read for study on my phone or computer for extended period without getting distracted even by things you wouldn't think of as distractions. Notifications distract, the ability to play music at all, the software that I'm reading on, highlighting text as I go, I just do not have a brain that makes it easy to read on a computer, and I think a lot of young people don't either.

e-readers and physical books just don't provide as many possibilities for distraction.

I understand your point. But are babies really susceptible to distraction?

The day I find a baby swiping up on an iPad will be momentous in my mind :).

I've read that the tactile aspects of physical books help a lot. This is very anecdotal as I kind find the particular reference I was thinking of.

But personally I can recall the specific size, weight, smell and texture of physical books I've read. It adds context and helps distinguish books as independent physical entities which (I believe) helps with recall. On the other hand digital books have begun to blend together for me.

Again very anecdotal.

The obvious difference to me is, that the e-ink screen is not flickering. Every other screen flickers when it gets updated 60+ times a second. They say it is too fast to notice for the eye, but I doubt that. Also a normal screen is an active light source. E-ink is passive.

All in all, I can read for hours on a e-ink display, but my eyes hurt soon on a normal screen. But az least they improved a lot compared from the old bulky ones.

I was able to get a 120hz screen recently , and the display does seem way more stable and more restful for my eyes

Contrast ratios likely play into this as well. I ran across some research a while ago that found that a contrast ratio of about 8:1 is ideal for readability. E-ink is pretty close to that optimum (usually around 10-15:1 these days). Whereas for conventional screens contrast ratios keep being pushed higher and higher (1000:1 is pretty typical). While this is great for video, it makes sense that at some point it becomes tiring for the eye when viewing black text on a white background (imagine trying to focus on an object superimposed against the sky on a blindingly bright summer day).

There are differences - like the ability to more easily flick backwards and forwards by several pages - whether this is enough to make a difference I can't tell, but it is one of the reasons I prefer to read non fiction in book rather than ebook form.

>> like the ability to more easily flick backwards and forwards by several pages

The only time I flick forwards is to see how much is left of the chapter, backwards is max one page, kindle have status for how much is left. So guess that depends on how you normally read

When reading non-fiction where there are complex arguments that extend over multiple pages it is useful to be able to flick backwards and forwards to follow the argument. Similarly books with long footnotes, where you may want to refer to a previous footnote.

If you ask me, e-ink makes a difference because e-ink devices don't have messengers and don't bombard you with notifications...

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