World Book Day. The honest version of books vs screens.

I am a biologist. I study development. And the honest version of the books versus screens conversation is more complicated than either the 'reading is sacred' camp or the 'screens are just another medium' camp tends to admit.

The cognitive science of reading is specific: long-form narrative reading — the reading of books, sustained over time, without interruption — develops a set of neural capacities that other forms of reading don't. These include: the ability to maintain attention on a single narrative thread for extended periods; the experience of deep absorption, sometimes called 'flow'; the capacity to build and maintain a complex imagined world in working memory; and the particular kind of empathy that comes from inhabiting another person's perspective from the inside, over time.

None of these capacities are developed by short-form reading — articles, posts, captions. None of them are developed by most screen content. They are specifically developed by long-form narrative reading, and they are measurable in brain development.

Reading fiction develops capacities that are specifically built by long-form narrative — theory of mind, sustained attention, emotional range. These are not developed by passive screen use.

Reading fiction develops capacities that are specifically built by long-form narrative — theory of mind, sustained attention, emotional range. These are not developed by passive screen use.

These are specifically developed by long-form narrative reading, and they are measurable.