<i>The reasons: The process involves so much physical manipulation of the computer that it interferes with our ability to focus on and appreciate what we're reading; online text moves up and down the screen and lacks physical dimension, robbing us of a feeling of completeness; and multimedia features, such as links to videos and animations, leave little room for imagination, limiting our ability to form our own mental pictures to illustrate what we're reading.</i><p>They acknowledge later in the article that the findings about PC manipulation might be different for people who were raised in a different time, and I definitely agree -- a blank browser tab with focus on the URL bar is about as calming as possible for me. I definitely get annoyed when I'm reading a paper news article and I want to research a reference, doubly so when online at a paper news site when they don't link to things they obviously would if they were true online sources.<p>While I agree that the second half holds merit, I think it's wrong to hang that on the internet itself. I definitely "watch" reddit sometimes, just clicking pics links and skimming programming articles without really soaking anything in.<p>I think that being online doesn't change the need for discretion when choosing your information sources when you're attempting to do more than be passively entertained.