“Pat the Bunny,” the 1940 classic touch-and-feel book, is still in print – a testament to the value of touch in introducing infants and toddlers to the world of reading. Later, when children reach school age, a common technique for teaching the alphabet is using hands-on manipulation, such as forming letters out of clay.
But as these students get older, the role of touch diminishes – to the students’ detriment. Today’s reading assignments are heavily digital, and use of computer keyboards for writing shows no sign of abating, especially given the lure of AI tools for editing and composing.
I’m a linguist who investigates the differences between print and digital reading and how writing supports thinking. My colleague Anne Mangen and I asked more than 500 secondary students at an international school in Amsterdam about their experiences when reading print versus digital texts. Separately, I surveyed 100 university students and young adults in the U.S. and Europe on their likes and dislikes about handwriting versus typing.
Together, their responses demonstrate that adolescents and young adults continue to value touch in their encounters with the written word. The research offers important lessons for educators and parents.
What students tell us
In the studies, students wrote glowingly about touch when asked for the one thing they liked most about reading in print or writing by hand. What surprised me was how closely their perceptions about the importance of touch aligned in both studies.
On a physical level, the feeling of holding a book or writing instrument in their hands mattered to students. These are some of their observations: “You actually feel like you are reading because the book is in your hands,” and “I like feeling the paper and pen under my hands, being able to physically form words.” Study participants also commented on the interaction of touch and movement. Regarding reading, one wrote about “the feeling of turning each page and anticipating what’s to happen next.” About writing by hand, one participant described “being able to feel the words just glide across the page.”
Many students also mentioned cognitive benefits. A host of respondents wrote about focus, concentration, immersion or memory. Regarding print reading, one student said, “I take it more seriously because it’s physically in my hands.” For writing, one response was, “I can see what I’m thinking.”
There were also psychological reflections. Students wrote, “The feeling of a book in my hands is a very comfortable feeling,” and “The satisfaction of a whole page filled by handwriting, it feels like I climbed a mountain.” Other comments addressed how touch made students feel more personally connected to the act of reading and writing. About reading, one reflected that “it is more personal ‘cause it’s in your hands.” About handwriting, another declared, “I feel more attached to the content I produce.”
A number of respondents wrote that reading physical books and writing by hand somehow felt more “real” than engaging with their digital counterparts. One student commented on “the realness of the book.” Another reported that “it feels more real than writing on a computer, the words seem to have more meaning.”
The studies also asked what participants liked most about digital reading and about writing on a computer keyboard. Out of more than 600 answers, only one mentioned the role of touch in what they liked most about using these technologies for reading and writing. For reading, students praised the convenience and access to the internet. For writing, greater speed as well as internet access were frequent responses.