Learning from Paper, Learning from Screens: Impact of Screen Reading and Multitasking Conditions on Reading and Writing among College Students

Electronic Screens As Cultural Tools

Why would we expect electronic screens or the particular reading medium to affect how learners process text? To answer this question, we turn to Vygotsky’s proposal that cognitive development is mediated by the semiotic mechanisms or psychological tools provided by the culture such as language, counting systems, algebra, and writing (Vygotsky, 1978). Sociocultural theorists now recognize that tools such as the paint brush, computers, calendars, and symbol systems also play an important role in knowledge construction during development (John-Steiner & Mahn, 1996). Indeed mass media such as radio, film, and television, were considered to be early electronic tools and have been joined today by digital media such as tablet computers, video and computer games, and the Internet (Greenfield, 1994; Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 2008). Greenfield (1993) has posited that cognitive socialization is the process by which cultural tools impact processing skills; on this view, different tools utilize and require different processing skills. As a widely used cultural artifact, media are important tools of cognitive socialization (Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 2008). Different media use different symbol systems – radio uses auditory representations, television uses auditory, iconic, and visual representations, and computer games use auditory, iconic, visual, dynamic, and spatial representations. Consequently, repeated use of a particular media form will help to internalize the medium-specific representational skills that it uses.