University of Belgrade

Faculty of Philology

The Influence of Internet on Reading Habits

Among Young People in Serbia

Marija Miljković (2014/0627)

Belgrade, April 2017.

 Abstract

In the last two decades, technology has altered our lives to a considerable extent. Regardless
of whether we are aware of it or not, our brains are being rewired by our changing habits. With
this in mind, this study was conducted with the aim to assess the effect Internet has had on the
reading habits of young people, the majority of whom were students. The goal was to evaluate to
what extent is Internet used in learning purposes, as well as to ascertain its popularity in relation
to printed matter. The research was conducted with the help of web-based questionnaires, and
305 responses were gathered. The results indicated that e-learning is considerably gaining in
popularity, and that digitized form of reading is catching up with print format, but hasn’t
surpassed it.

Key words: technology, Internet, reading, students, e-learning, print

 Introduction

The importance of reading can not be highlighted enough – not only does it pave the way to
lifelong learning, but there are many other advantages as well, such as mental stimulation,
vocabulary expansion and improved concentration, to name just a few. (Wise, n.d.) Once
considered a luxury, reading is now more of a necessity, aiding us in our efforts to understand the
vast complexity of the world we’re living in. It is an essential tool used for acquiring wealth of
experience and it also helps people in coping with new information in an ever-changing world,
especially now in the technological age. Thus, it is of great importance to cultivate the reading
habit, especially among children and younger generations. Chettri and Rout (2013) emphasize
that reading from an early age helps children both in their cognitive and intellectual development.
So, if there are that many perks to reading, how come every single person is not a book lover? In
fact, not only are the majority of people far from being avid readers, but research suggests that a
great number of people either read very little or not at all. According to UNICEF’s study on
Serbian citizens’ reading habits conducted in 2012 around 40% of teenagers don’t read books at
all, while approximately 60% of adults hardly ever pick up a book. (“Slabe čitalačke navike dece
u Srbiji”, 2012) However, since the advent of the Internet, the activity of reading is changing,
expanding and taking on a new form. There is no doubt that this transformative shift in reading
affects peoples’ reading habits, but in what way and to what extent? Will technology kill the
book or give it new life?

In the last decade, the rise of digital media has visibly modified the way in which people
share, attain and create knowledge. Living in “an age of hyperabundant textuality” (Bliss, 2016),
we are constantly bombarded with new information to the extent where it is impossible to
absorb it. This has lead to the belief that reading on Internet is dumbing us down in a way,
resulting in so-called ‘reading insecurity’, which is explained as “the subjective experience of
thinking that you’re not getting as much from reading as you used to”. (Waldman, 2014) On the
other hand, the recent popularity electronic books (e-books) have gained can not be disputed,
especially after Amazon’s release of e-reader Amazon Kindle (mobile electronic device which
main purpose is reading e-books) in 2008. And while the printed word still remains its stance
as the dominant format, e-books sales have significantly affected the book-buying market, and
according to statistics, by 2018 it will account for around a quarter of global book sales. (“E-
books – Statistics and Facts”, n.b.)

There is also a spirited debate on whether the mass digitization of books will lead to print
dying out, as well as on the topic of copyright, which took its toll for the worse when Google
launched their Google Book service and began scanning books for which it had no publisher’s
permission. (Skidelsky, 2009) However, these issues haven’t stopped digital media from
spreading out, and it now remains to be seen from the results exactly to what extents they are
present among the young people in Serbia.
 Research methodology

As the title indicates, this section covers the overall research methodology, stating the
research strategy, the research method and approach as well as data collection method and tools
used to obtain data.

To begin with, the tool used for conducting the research (data gathering) was a questionnaire,
more precisely a Google Forms questionnaire. It consisted of twelve questions, ranging from
closed-ended to-point question, multiple choice and Likert scale ones, to one open-ended
question.

It should be noted that this is primarily a fundamental research, with the aim of noticing
patterns and observing phenomena in order to gain new knowledge and insight into the reading
habit of young people. Furthermore, in order to satisfy the objective of the research, a quantitative
method was used for the majority of questions, namely closed-class questions. In this way, the
answers are thought to be more objective and the sample more statistically representative of the
wider population. However, one question was of qualitative nature (an open-ended question),
where respondents were asked their own opinion on a certain matter. In terms of the approach,
this is an indicative research approach, or so-called “bottom up” approach, which tends to
proceed from observation to the development of a theory, rather than the other way around.

Another thing that should be noted are the limitations of the research. Namely, the majority of
people participating in the study are students from the University of Belgrade, thus the results
may not be entirely representative of the whole youth population in Serbia.
 Research findings and analysis

The total number of survey participants was 305 and it should be noted that for the greatest
part they were University students (89,2%), while the rest of the responses were either from high
school students or from graduates (10,8%), both employed and unemployed. Therefore, it comes
as no surprise that the age-wise distribution of respondents was from 18 to 30 years old, with the
age group of 19 to 23-year-old’s comprising the greatest part of the participants. When it comes
to the University students, the vast majority of them (257, to be more exact) were students from
various Faculties of the Belgrade University, but 15 students from the University of Novi Sad
should be mentioned as well, especially because of the difference in the responses between the
students of the two Universities which will be analyzed later on in this section. Other than the
occupation of students, another important factor to be taken into consideration is the gender of the
participants, since the prevailing majority of them were female – no less than 86%. Now that we
have looked into the demographics of respondents, we move on to the analysis of the gathered
data.

The first two questions in the questionnaire aimed to find a certain connection between the
obsolescence of libraries and e-learning. Even though previous researches clearly stated the facts
about the non-usage of libraries, the results still came as a surprise. Namely, an alarming 40% of
respondents don’t own a library card at all, while around 11% of those that do don’t use it at all.
The other half of the participants (almost 49%) said that, apart from being library members, they
use libraries as well. Further on, in order to evaluate to what extent is e-learning present at
Universities in general, a Likert-type scale was used so that participants could assess the degree
with considerable precision. The results showed that a staggering number of respondents (nearly
92%), when asked to evaluate to what extent is e-learning present in their studies, answered that it
was overall present, at least to a slight degree. To be more precise, 61 respondents said that it was
only ‘slightly present’, 82 of them claimed that it was ‘moderately present’, 76 that it was
‘present to a certain degree’, while 58 said it was ‘present to a large degree’. However, here is
where the discrepancy between the two Universities comes into the foreground, as this is the only
question where there is a noticeable difference between the responses of the students from the
previously mentioned Universities. From the answers received, it was clearly observable that the
students from the University of Novi Sad had considerably less experience with e-learning than
their colleagues from Belgrade. Namely, 60% of them said that there was no presence of e-
learning in their studies, while the remaining 40% stated that it was only slightly to moderately
present. Nevertheless, these results shouldn’t be taken for granted, as only 15 students of the
University of Novi Sad participated in the survey. Returning to the general results, however, it
can be speculated that there is a link between libraries becoming obsolete and students’ studies
making a huge shift towards e-learning.

Moving on, the next aspect to be covered is that of what students read most on the Internet.
As stated previously, the Internet is bursting with all sorts of information, so it was thought
necessary to find out what type of reading content is the most widely read by young people. The
results showed that for the largest part, respondents turn to screen reading for educational
purposes, that is mostly because of further reading in areas that interest them the most, as well as
because of the lack of accessible hard copies of books (39%) or for the sake of additional training
in the shape of online courses, Wikipedia pages etc. (15.4%). Reading for pleasure was next in
popularity, with 22.4% of respondents admitting that, for the most part, their preferred online
content are either magazines, blog posts, forums etc. What followed was 8.5% of participants
who said that their online reading consisted mainly of keeping up with the news. The remaining
14.8% of the respondents said they read for all of the aforementioned reasons to almost the same
extent. We know move on to a separate section in order to assess students’ opinions on the
subject of digitalization.

Print vs. Digital: What does the future hold?

The further set of questions dealt with two topics – the first one was the extent to which
students use digital reading formats in relation to the print format, while the second one was the
digitization of books. Since the two are closely interrelated, it is only adequate they be put in the
same section.
 Apart from the well-known battle between electronic book and print books, audio books were
included as well, as their influence on the publishing business could not have been taken for
granted. Although no research has been done on the topic of audio books in Serbia with which the
results could be compared, it is safe to say that this format has not (yet) gained its popularity
among Serbian youth. Namely, out of 305 participants, 155 of them said they never use audio
books at all. Further on, 29% of the respondents stated they listened to audio books, but only very
rarely, an additional 14% of said that they might listen to audio books from time to time, while
only 4% reported to listening them often. Not more than 7 people (a mere 2.2%) said that
listening to audio books was a part of their daily routine. On the other hand, the battle between
the other two formats was incredibly tight, and it can be said that it was incredibly close for it to
end in a draw, but the usage of print slightly prevailed. Percentage of people who often used both
of the formats was similar (27% for print and 33% for e-books), while that of those who used
them only occasionally was the same (23% for both formats). Although print is a bit more used
on a day-to-day basis (with 32% of people opting for print and 25% for e-books), what evened
things out for e-books was the surprising fact that 14 people said they don’t read print editions at
all, while 8 of them said the same was true for e-books. These numbers may be low, so drawing
conclusions is not recommended, yet it is sure to make one understand better the ‘threat’ e-books
pose for the traditional print format. The next question dealt with the usage of e-readers among
Serbian youth, and, having in mind how the previous question was answered, the results to this
one are rather shocking: a surprising 27% of the survey respondents have never heard of such a
device at all, while 24% of them don’t own this gadget nor do they plan to purchase one.
Moreover, 30% of participants expressed a wish to own this device, while the remaining 19%
already had one.

Furthermore, the last two questions concentrated on the digitization of books and
students’ opinion on the subject. If the results are to be trusted, books are still here to stay, at least
according to the whopping 63% of people who believe that digital reading will never surpass
printed matter. On the other hand, nearly 28.6% of those who believe that digital editions will
replace the traditional printed material, with the remaining 8.4 % thought it might be possible in
the future. At the very end, participants were presented with an open-ended question and asked
what in their opinion where the pros and cons of book digitization. It should be noted that this
question was optional and that approximately 20% of people either didn’t have an opinion or
chose not to bother answering. Still, a wide variety of answers was collected, and they mostly
overlapped. To summarize, the most commonly stated advantages were the accessibility of books,
more free space, lower environmental impact as well as lower price. When it comes to
drawbacks, the ones pinpointed were the damage it can cause to the eyesight, and, the most
popular one – e-books could never replace the smell of books. It seems that, even with the advent
of digital media, the lasting value of printed material is not going to be forgotten any time soon,
at least by these first transitional generations. However, results may differ considerably if this
type of research is to be conducted on the younger generations which have been immersed in
technology to a much greater extent.
 Conclusion

It is safe to say that the effect of Internet really has changed reading as an activity, and has
done so to a considerable degree, maybe even more than many would have anticipated. Whether
we like it or not, the advent of modern technology is leaving its mark on our lives, and there is
little else to do than try and embrace it.

Not only is the concept of e-learning slowly but surely becoming the most widely used
means of accessing knowledge, but more and more faculties are incorporating it as an integral
part of their study programs. This large-scale implementation of e-learning has mostly had a
positive effect on students’ quality of learning, especially in terms of online learning platforms
and accessible books. However, even though the shift towards digital learning is enormous,
libraries are still used fairly often and are not about to fade into oblivion any time soon.

When it comes to the connection between reading formats and reading habits, print still has a
slight advantage, but e-books are close behind and, as long as there is some sort of
counterbalance, these two formats could exist beautifully together, complementing each other’s
strengths.

The grave threat of print becoming extinct in the (not so distant) future is a looming
possibility according to some students, but it is probably only a reflection of their fears, as the
greatest majority firmly believes that print format will surely find a way to live alongside digital
technology and reading gadgets. Furthermore, most of the people are aware of both the perks and
the downsides of digitization, which are good things, as it will hopefully make them strike a
balance between print and e-reading. And, as so many of the respondents stated, nothing beats the
smell of books.

We are still only at the beginning of revolutionized reading, and the true impact of Internet in
this aspect remains to be seen. Though numerous researches have been done across the globe on
the similar topic as this one, not many of them were conducted exclusively in Serbia, so it was
important that the opinion of the young be heard.
 References

1. Wise, A. (n.d.) “8 Science-Backed Reasons to Read a (Real) Book” Retrieved

from https://www.realsimple.com/health/preventative-health/benefits-of-reading-
real-books
2. Chettri and Rout (2013) “Reading habits: an overview” Retrieved from
http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol14-
issue6/C01461317.pdf?id=6916
3. “Slabe čitalačke navike mladih u Srbiji“ (2012, August12). Retreived from
http://www.oradio.rs/sr_lat/drustvo/slabe-citalacke-navike-dece-u-
srbiji_339451.html
4. Bliss, J. (2016) “How the internet changed the way we read” Retrieved from
https://www.dailydot.com/via/how-internet-changed-way-we-read/
5. Waldman K. (2014) “Reading Insecurity” Retrieved from
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/09/reading_insecurity_the_cri
ppling_fear_that_the_digital_age_has_left_you.html
6. “E-books – Statistics and Facts” (n.d.) Retreived from
https://www.statista.com/topics/1474/e-books/
7. Skidelsky, W. (2009) “Google’s plan for world’s biggest online library:
philantrophy or an act of piracy?” Retreived from
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/aug/30/google-library-project-
books-settlement
 Appendix

Questionnaire

1. Gender
*Male *Female

2. Age

3. Occupation

4. Are you a library member?

* Yes *No *I am, but I never use it

5. To what extent is e-learning present at your Faculty?

*Not at all *Slightly present *Somewhat present *Present to a considerable

degree *Present to a large degree

6. Which of the following takes up most of your time on the Internet:

*reading for study purposes (further reading, inaccessible hard copy etc.)

* additional (online) training (online courses, etc.)

* reading to be well-informed (online news media)

* reading for pleasure (online magazines, blog posts, social media articles,
etc.)

7. How often do you use the following formats:

 Print format: *Not at all *Rarely *Sometimes *Often * On a daily basis

 Electronic documents: *Not at all *Rarely *Sometimes *Often * On a
daily basis
 Audio book formats: *Not at all *Rarely *Sometimes *Often * On a
daily basis
8. Do you have an electronic reader (e-reader)?
* Yes, I do
* I don’t, but I would like to
* I don’t and I’m not interested in purchasing one
*I am unfamiliar with the device
9. Do you think that digital format will completely replace the printed
matter?
*Yes *No *Maybe
10. What are in your opinion advantages and/or disadvantages of book
digitization?