Reading in the Digital Age

<p style="text-align: justify;">The article provides an overview of current research on the problem of children's reading in a digital society. The transformation of children's reading practices in connection with the transition from the printed format of books to the digital one is considered. The article analyzes the results of studies showing the influence of different book formats (printed, digital, audiobooks) and various interactive functions, both in printed and digital books, on children's understanding of the content of what they read, learning, communication, the ability to concentrate and hold attention, the process of interaction between an adult and a child during joint reading. The majority of the researches show that parents choose traditional printed books with illustrations as the first books for a child. Digital books arouse an ambiguous attitude among them. In books with interactive features, parents see, first of all, the learning potential for the child, although they can have both a positive and a negative impact. Parents' concerns about new book formats are primarily related to possible harm to the child's health due to time spent at the screen of a digital device. In the process of reading digital books, parents devote significantly less time to their children than when reading printed books. Further prospects for the development of the digital format of children's books make it very important to study their impact on the development of a child and the formation of his/her reading skills.</p>