Books still preferred over digital reading

People still enjoy reading books the old-fashioned way - on paper - in the digital age, according to a survey released by the Shanghai Statistics Bureau yesterday.

Local residents have quickly adapted to e-reading, according to the survey based on telephone interviews of 1,000 people from various age groups. But the majority of people said they read better on printed books rather than on cell phones, laptops and e-readers, the survey said.

Overall, about the same proportion of people read on digital devices as on paper.

E-reading is more popular with young people with strong educational backgrounds, with higher proportions of them reading on digital devices.

But traditional reading has merits that can't be replaced by e-reading, 60 percent of the survey respondents said. People complained that it's easier for them to feel tired when reading on digital devices and it's difficult for them to read intensively or make notes in e-reading.

More than 60 percent of people read more than an hour per day, and 40 percent read one to six books every year. Young adults, who are often assumed to be uninterested in reading, read about as much as many of their elders, the survey found.