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Habits · Duration: 2 weeks

Paper vs screen: what did we actually remember?

Sofia Mbeki · Aug 24, 2026
Hypothesis
We will remember more detail from articles read on paper than from the same articles read on a screen.
Method
Four readers each read six articles: three printed and three on a laptop, with the order swapped between people. A week later we took a 10-question quiz on each.
Result
Average quiz scores were about 20% higher for paper-read articles. The gap was biggest for long, detailed pieces and smallest for short news items.
Confirmed

Confirmed at our small scale. Print the long reads that matter.

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