• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Apps
    • App Store
    • Audio Reader
    • Good e-Reader News
  • Contact
    • Advertise
  • Media
    • Radio Show
    • Videos
  • News
    • Amazon Kindle
    • Android
    • Audiobooks
    • Barnes and Noble
    • Bookselling
    • Digital Publishing
    • e-Books
    • e-Paper
    • e-Readers
    • Kobo
  • Newsletter
  • Reviews
  • Good e-Reader Store
    • Cart
    • Customer Support
    • My Account

Good e-Reader

The latest news on Audiobooks, eBooks and eReaders

Sloppy BBC Article Draws the Ire of the e-Reader World

December 23, 2014 By Michael Kozlowski 4 Comments

stock-footage-close-up-of-young-black-man-reading-his-tablet-in-the-dark-black-background

The BBC recently penned their prospective on a new report by the Harvard Medical School that linked the use of tablets at night to an overall sleep onset delay of around ten minutes, and 11 minutes less REM sleep. The report basically equated e-readers, such as the Kindle as using the same screen technology as the iPad.  Mainstream media such as the BBC is spreading a terrible misconception of what an e-reader is.

The Apple iPad and tablets that are cited by the Harvard team use a backlit display that shines upwards into your eyes at around 60 Hz. e-Paper based readers on the other hand use technology provided by e-Ink, which mimics real paper.  The average e-reader does not have a built in lighting system, but the ones that do normally have five small LED lights built into the bottom of the bezel and project light evenly across the screen. This provides a subtle illumination effect, but does not increase pupil dilatation, like a tablet does.

This Harvard report, like many others tackling this subject  matter basically equate the usage of tablets with the suppression melatonin.  So what is melatonin and why is it a big deal? Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland at night and under conditions of darkness in both diurnal and nocturnal species. It is a “timing messenger,” signaling nighttime information throughout the body. Exposure to light at night, especially short-wavelength light, can slow or even cease nocturnal melatonin production. Suppression of melatonin by light at night results in circadian disruption and has been implicated in sleep disturbances, increased risk for diabetes and obesity, as well as increased risk for more serious diseases, such as breast cancer, if circadian disruption occurs for many consecutive years, such as in night shift workers.

What the BBC and this specific report is getting terribly wrong is just because you can read an e-Books on a tablet, does not classify it as an e-reader.  If a mobile device has an LCD or LED display, it is a tablet. If you hear the term e-paper or e-ink the device is an e-reader. The BBC and many people in academia have no concept of the differences between tablets and e-readers and just lump them into a singular category.  They think that a Kindle Voyage is the same as a Kindle Fire. This demonstrates a clear lack of understanding on consumer technology. 

Michael Kozlowski

Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past ten years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and Verge.

Share
Tweet3
Share
Vote
Reddit
Email
3 Shares

Filed Under: E-Ink, Clearink and E-paper News



  • J. Jansen

    There is enough blame to go around.

    If you look up the actual article from PNAS ( National Academy of Sciences ) you will see where the problem originated from. The title of the article ( http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1418490112 ) is:

    “Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness”

    If you browse through the article and look at the actual test, the researchers state that they used only I-PADs, which they equate with Light-Emitting eReaders.

    So the BBC can be blamed for not doing their own research, but simply copying/regurgitating the summary of another news service or the PNAS itself.

    PNAS can be blamed for publishing an article with such a non-nonsensical title. Light-emitting e-readers do not exist (perhaps with the exception of the Kobo Glo?).

    The researchers can be blamed the most, for not understanding the technology they are testing/commenting on. And for using such a limited test. They should at least have used a more diverse set of e-readers/tablets before coming to any conclusions.

  • Jab76

    Wasn’t the study about the wavelength of led lights? That’s something else as direct or indirect lightening.

  • Mitch Gusat

    e-ink vs. LCD-based tablets are still being confused by 99% of the reviewers supposed to educate us… little wonder the consumer market can’t distinguish between them. Adding to the confusion is Amazon’s Kindle series, whether Fire (LCD) or ‘true’ (aka eink, non-backlit) => They’re all Kindles, or eReaders (as functionality, albeit not principle).

    However, i agree that researchers, reviewers, educators and journalists should know better.

    Oh well, it seems that our beloved devices are a tiny niche not worth distinguishing from tablets, LCD, AMOLED, IGZO etc. (themselves vastly different in operation, e.g., AMOLEDs not being backlit).

    Lamda: Blueish LED light (short wave), continous, intermitent 40-60FPS or PW-modulated is an issue, as substantial evidence from the past few years shows, e.g. http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/harvard_health_letter/2012/may/blue-light-has-a-dark-side/

    Hence a benefit touted by OLED displays, http://www.oled-info.com/oleds-emit-less-third-blue-light-lcds

  • Mex5150

    The BBC getting a technology story wrong, that’s never happened before… Oh, wait…

    My wife insists on playing me all the BBC tech news just to annoy me (she’s like that), 99.999% of the stories are either wrong, out of date (often by years), or more often than not both. Considering how well respected they are generally, I’m always amazed how bad they are with tech.

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on E-mail

Good E-Reader

Tweets by Goodereader
  • 10,000 Arabic books have been digitized to ebooks 10,000 Arabic books have been digitized to ebooks
  • New Allegations of Romance Plagiarism New Allegations of Romance Plagiarism
  • Wisky EeWrite E-Pad might be the best e-reader ever made Wisky EeWrite E-Pad might be the best e-reader ever made
  • Amazon Kindle 5.10.3 Update Makes Page Turn Speed Faster Amazon Kindle 5.10.3 Update Makes Page Turn Speed Faster
  • Amazon Kindle Voyage 2 will be released in 2019 Amazon Kindle Voyage 2 will be released in 2019
  • The Kobo Aura One is discontinued The Kobo Aura One is discontinued




Copyright © 2019 Good e-Reader - Privacy Policy - Terms of Use - Shipping and Return Policy - Refund Policy - Customer Support