Digital Media: A Revolution in Reading Practices?

The question of whether the “digital revolution” has disrupted reading habits has prompted the following collective survey on intensive digital reading practices. This survey illustrates that the existence of “different ways of reading” depends on the type of text read and the use associated with the act of reading. Reading novels on an e-reader remains “dense reading” and only leads to a prosaic inventory of the advantages and disadvantages of digital texts. However, reading news on the internet (starting with the press) incites “segmented reading” from diverse sources. While an abundance of distractions provokes addiction, it does not seem to induce any real disorientation. The conclusion reflects upon how to consolidate the “audiovisual revolution” with the “digital revolution”: are we witnessing a return to “oral culture” on a mass scale?