Are we reading ebooks faster than print books?

A website recently conducted a poll among readers to gauge just what kinds of books they are reading, what format they prefer books in, and how many books are read each month between the formats. For example, they compared how many books were read on e-readers compared to print. I was shocked to see that a majority of the respondents reported that they read more ebooks each month compared to print. I was surprised by that result because my situation is the opposite: I take forever to read an ebook but I can finish reading a print book in a week (sometimes even in a day).

Taking note of that survey result, I started to wonder if it’s true that more people read more books faster if it’s on an e-reader. Myself, I don’t have an e-reader, so if I read an ebook, it’s usually a PDF on the computer. This usually explains why I don’t read them very fast: I don’t like sitting at the computer for too long. As it is, these days, I only use the computer once a day.

What is it about ebooks that allows readers to read them faster? I was puzzling over this. Are ebooks shorter? I have seen some ebooks longer that 300 pages. Do we just happen to read faster if words are on a screen? Or is there some mode of convenience which allows people to read them so fast?

Yesterday, as I was waiting for my son to finish his class, I noticed another mom sitting nearby and reading on her Kindle. Her other child was sitting in a chair next to her, reading a print book. The mom’s thumb moved the text along on the screen as she read her ebook while the child took his time reading the pages of his print book. Maybe the mom just happens to read faster but I was still curious if this is how people read ebooks on their e-readers. Are they just scrolling along and taking in the words faster?

I did some research about this on the Internet. With one article I read, it stated that compared to reading ebooks and reading print books, a lot of people don't easily recall what they read in the digital book whereas more people remembered things better when reading a print book. Then I came across this article and have to wonder if reading ebooks faster than print even has anything to do with being able to remember what was just read. 

All this time, I have refused to have an e-reader. I prefer print books because I can read them anywhere and I don’t need them to be charged to read them. I don’t need electricity to read a print book – unless it’s dark, but even then, I can read by candlelight. Or with a flashlight. But if e-readers are indeed still something we can just pull out and read anywhere, I think I would be more open to that. I am not a social person and I would happily take advantage of any free time to just read. So I’m thinking that maybe an e-reader can still work just as much as a print if I want something to read while my kids are watching a TV show or outside playing.

And if using an e-reader means I’ll read ebooks faster, then I’m all the more willing to give it a try. I have a ton of ebooks waiting to be read and it would be nice to finally read them without having to stay chained to a computer to do so.