Digital Reading: Is it “real” reading?

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Is reading online the same as reading a book? I’m not sure. My son would prefer to read on his Chromebook every night of the week. Truth: I struggle with that.

As an educator, I know and understand the change in our world. We need to embrace this shift in order to prepare our students for a world that is significantly different from the one in which we were raised. It’s critical for us to teach kids how to be responsible digital citizens and understand the new reality of our world.

As a mom, I fight it every day. I don’t know why. My son is extremely active in sports, has a lot of friends and is reading above grade level (so far, anyways). I desperately want him to open a book and feel the paper pages as he turns each one. I feel that reading on the Chromebook is not “really” reading. But, he’d sit there for hours learning about sharks, baseball in the 1920s or even the oil crisis of the 1970s. He’s met people like Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart, George Washington and Alexander Graham Bell. And, he loves a good ghost story easily found on his reading app from school.

So, why do I continue to fight it? Because, it’s different. I don’t understand it. Yet.

Any and all thoughts welcome!