Paper’s Weight
Digital has value, but your brain still needs print
By Cecily Hastings
Photography By Linda Smolek
June 2025
Inside Sacramento publishes 12 tons of local newspapers each month with our 80,000 printed copies. Our commitment to community print is among the most substantial in Northern California.
We also provide digital content, but our digital reach is about 25% of the print version. We’re bullish on the printed page.
Inside manages to buck the trend of printed words replaced by digital content. Our local advertising base gives us a tremendous advantage. I’m grateful for every advertising dollar that allows you to hold this free publication each month.
When I meet readers, they often tell me they love getting our top-quality local news in print. Many say it’s the only print product they read. Some enjoy Inside so much with their coffee they stretch out the experience the whole month.
I’ve long believed reading content digitally and in print are vastly different experiences. I read dozens of novels a year and started with a Kindle 15 years ago, mostly for convenience and to save space.
I also enjoy nonfiction books but find I can’t process and retain detailed information digitally. My nonfiction books come in print.
I read digital news daily, mostly through X. I also receive several printed newspapers: The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times and Epoch Times on weekends. Plus, several travel magazines and the weekly New Yorker.
I call print “slow news” consumption—like “slow food” to describe savoring a meal as opposed to eating fast food. I keep printed material on the kitchen island where I work and enjoy stories throughout the day.
Research shows physical print is better for your brain. People who read on screens score lower on comprehension tests than people who read the same text in print.
Fifty university students received devices that tracked their eye movements as they read a six-page science article. Half read on tablets, half on paper. Both groups spent the same amount of time, but their eye movements showed vastly different results.
Digital readers moved through content on a one-way path, rarely backtracking for even the most challenging sections. Print readers first skimmed and took in the broader context, then returned to examine the details.
Next, both groups were tested for comprehension. Print readers scored 24% higher. Numerous studies show similar findings.
Screens tend to encourage what researchers call a “shallowing effect” in reading behavior. Readers scan text and skip sections. In place of sustained focused reading, they have weaker memory formation and comprehension, particularly for details.
As schools adopt digital reading technology, the assumption that “reading is reading” deserves scrutiny. A 2024 meta-analysis of 49 studies involving thousands of readers from elementary school through college showed formats really matter. Reading isn’t just reading.
With California student test scores still below pre-pandemic levels, the reading crisis must be addressed. We can’t kid ourselves about tech and digital solutions.
Print readers tend to spend more time flipping through pages and reading, engage more deeply, and absorb information more than digital readers.
Limiting digital habits—doom-scrolling and social media’s dopamine hit—is one way to halt technological brain rot. Another is to engage with tech-free hobbies and step outside the digital sphere.
Just by holding this copy of Inside, you’ve taken a proactive approach against digital brain rot. And you’re among the best-informed readers in town.
Cecily Hastings can be reached at publisher@insidepublications.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
