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Teen boy on ereader
Is it traditional books for you or an e-reader?
Photo by Voisin/Phanie/REX
Photograph: Voisin/Phanie/REX
Is it traditional books for you or an e-reader?
Photo by Voisin/Phanie/REX
Photograph: Voisin/Phanie/REX

Teens prefer the printed page to ebooks

This article is more than 9 years old

Newsflash You’d think teenagers would shun traditional print books for e-readers. But the latest survey says that’s not true… what do you think?

Do you prefer real books (made out of paper etc) to ebooks? The latest stats on survey of teen reading habits by Nielsen fly in the face of what we might expect from the early adopters of new technology AKA teenagers.

Only 20% of teens buy ebooks, compared to 25% 20-44-year-olds and 23% of 18-29-year-olds.

But why? Is it really because teenagers prefer the heady thrill of flicking through a real book or is it a lack of credit cards for online purchases or a liking of borrowing books from friends or libraries rather than having to pay for them on an e-reader?

The survey also looked at how teenagers discover new books. Nielsen asked 3000 children’s book buyers including parents and teens about their habits and found that teens might prefer reading traditional print but their paths to discovering which books to read are more dependent on social media.

Teenage readers are heavily influenced by what their peers are reading and what they’ve read before. Teens, especially teenage girls, are more social about their reading compared to older generations, with 45% of teens at least moderately influenced by references to books on social network sites like Facebook and Twitter. And a similar 45% of teens are at least moderately influenced by teen-oriented websites - hopefully including this one, touches halo - containing reviews and author interviews.

But the biggest single source of influence for teen readers is enjoying an author’s previous books. So while authors and publishers have a challenge trying to hook a teen reader in the first time, they’ll likely have an easier time getting them to stick with that author!

Well, what do you think about this survey? Do you use an e-reader or prefer real books, tell us which and why by emailing childrens.books@theguardian.com or on Twitter @GdnChildrensBks, you can use the #GdnTeenMembers to hook up with other booky teen Tweeters.

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