Impact of digital content on young children’s reading interest and concentration for books

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of digital content on mobile devices including flash animations, app books, and augmented reality (AR) books on children's reading interest and reading concentration for books. The factors responsible for the aforementioned influence were also investigated. The results from this research show that flash animation can significantly increase the interest in reading and concentration. AR books and app books led children to become more interested in storybooks but significantly decreased their reading concentration. Following a comparison of the digital content, it was concluded that all the tested prototypes could positively increase the reading interest of children in the same-storyline books. However, prototypes with a high level of interactivity could have a negative influence on children’s reading concentration. The research findings are important in determining how to design digital content for children.