What does reading on screens do to our brains? | BBC Ideas

Summary

This video highlights the profound impact of reading on the human brain and society. It explains how reading is a learned skill that reshapes neural circuits, enhancing creativity, intelligence, and empathy. The video emphasizes reading's therapeutic benefits, including its ability to improve mental health and economic success. It also explores the effects of digital reading, noting that while screen-based reading may hinder comprehension, it offers new ways for writers to connect with audiences. Ultimately, the video stresses that reading, in any form, remains essential to human development and imagination.

Takeaways

• 😀 Reading is a learned skill that reshapes the brain, turning it into a tool for complex thinking and emotional connection.
• 📚 Books are essential to human development, offering knowledge, community, and life experiences that make us who we are.
• 🌍 Literacy is one of humanity's greatest inventions, only around 6,000 years old, and has drastically changed the way we store and share knowledge.
• 🧠 Reading stimulates brain regions responsible for visual processing, language, thought, and emotion, creating unique neural circuits for each reader.
• 📖 Bibliotherapy, or prescribing fiction to alleviate life's emotional struggles, can help with conditions like claustrophobia, rage, and exhaustion.
• 💡 Reading fosters creativity, intelligence, and empathy, with profound benefits for children's later economic and social success.
• 🔬 Deep reading engages more parts of the brain, enhancing critical thinking, analysis, and empathy, as opposed to surface-level reading.
• 📱 Digital mediums like smartphones offer new opportunities for writers and readers, allowing for shorter stories and more diverse voices.
• 📊 Research shows that reading on screens negatively affects comprehension, with screen-based reading often leading to skimming and reduced engagement.
• 🧠 The brain's circuitry adapts to the medium through which it reads, and constant use of digital devices could impact our ability to comprehend complex material.
• 📚 If we stop reading books, we risk becoming intellectually stagnant, losing the richness of human thought, imagination, and the ability to connect with others.

Q & A

What is the relationship between reading and the brain?

Reading is an acquired skill that physically changes the brain. It creates new neural connections between visual, language, thought, and emotion regions. Each person who learns to read essentially creates new circuits in their brain, making reading a deeply personal and cognitive experience.

Why is reading considered more than just a means of entertainment?

Reading has therapeutic benefits. Bibliotherapy, for example, uses fiction to address mental health issues such as rage, exhaustion, and anxiety. Reading also brings creativity, intelligence, and empathy, all of which contribute to personal development and well-being.

How does reading influence a child’s later success?

Reading for pleasure is linked to better economic outcomes in later life. Children who read for joy are more likely to avoid prison, vote, and own a home. Literacy provides essential life skills that open up opportunities for success.

What impact does reading have on mental and physical health?

Reading has been shown to induce a meditative state in the brain, slowing the heartbeat, calming the mind, and reducing anxiety. This process contributes to emotional well-being and is a physical response that improves mental health.

How is deep reading different from surface reading?

Deep reading involves critical thinking, making analogies, and inferences. It activates more of the cerebral cortex and promotes analytical, empathetic, and human thinking. Surface reading, on the other hand, only involves absorbing basic information without engaging deeply with the content.

What role does technology play in the evolution of reading?

New digital mediums are evolving the way books are written and consumed. For example, there are books designed specifically to be read on phones, which provide a platform for a new generation of writers. While the format may change, the essence of storytelling remains, demonstrating that the medium is secondary to the story itself.

What does 'screen inferiority' refer to in relation to reading?

Screen inferiority refers to the concept that reading on a screen leads to poorer comprehension compared to reading on paper. Digitized content may be easier to access, but it doesn’t engage the brain as deeply, resulting in a loss of deeper understanding and cognitive benefits.

How does the medium of reading affect our brains?

The medium we use for reading—whether digital or physical—shapes the circuitry of our brain. For instance, reading on digital devices can promote quicker, skimming behavior, while reading on paper can stimulate deeper cognitive engagement. If we don't balance these different forms of reading, we risk diminishing our ability to comprehend complex ideas.

Why might shorter books and stories become more common in the future?

As attention spans shorten, especially among younger readers, authors are adapting by writing shorter chapters and making books more visually engaging. The rise of digital media and mobile devices may further push the trend toward shorter, more digestible reading formats.

What is the significance of biliteracy and bilingualism in reading?

The hope is that as readers become biliterate—able to read in multiple languages or on multiple mediums—they will develop a more flexible brain. This flexibility will allow them to adapt to different forms of storytelling and reading comprehension, enhancing their cognitive abilities across various formats.