The digital reading habits of children – A National survey of parents’ perceptions of and practices in relation to children’s reading for pleasure with print and digital books

Natalia Kucirkova & Karen Littleton, 2016

Published by Book Trust and originally submitted in August 2015, revised in December 2015 and published in February 2016. The survey was designed specifically to explore young children’s use of digital media and e-books, with a particular focus on children’s reading for pleasure and shared reading with their parents at home. It investigates parental reports of practices and the associated perceptions of these practices by parents of 0-8 year old children. Selected key findings relating to digital reading habits are:

  • Most parents have concerns over children using interactive e-books, with only 8% having no concerns. Concerns include that interactive e-books will:
    – Increase children’s screen time (45%)
    – Mean they lose interest in print books (35%)
    – Expose them to inappropriate content (31%) or too much advertising (27%)
    – Affect a child’s attention span (26%)
    – Inhibit learning (14%)
    – Harm a child’s brain (10%)
  • Parents want advice about interactive e-books and need support to recognise how print and e-books can complement each other
  • Parents’ biggest concern with digital media generally is exposing children to inappropriate content (40%)
  • More than half of parents that prefer print (52%) say their child likes turning pages, whilst 43% say their child likes to own their print book and 41% say their child likes choosing books from the library. Of those parents whose children prefer reading e-books 48% say it’s because their child enjoys using digital devices, with 39% of children liking to interact with the e-book and 35% liking the additional features

[Kucirkova, N. & Littleton, K. (2016) The digital reading habits of children: A National survey of parents’ perceptions of and practices in relation to children’s reading for pleasure with print and digital books, Book Trust.]