wouldn't the value of that dimension decline over time? for the next generation of readers, the majority of reading will be done in digital formats, and the the level of emotional attachment to physical books will be significantly less.
So there's obviously some value to the experience of reading from a physical artifact, and the younger generations are also obviously able to identify this value.
Given that, I wonder if we're still in a generational swing here.
It's possible that's not the case. But I'm not convinced this study absolutely proves that "there's obviously some value to the experience of reading from a physical artifact, and the younger generations are also obviously able to identify this value." It could simply be that people prefer what they grew up with. shrug
If this was the case, there wouldn't be a generational difference between that age group and older age groups, since everybody born before 2007 would have "grown up with" regular books.
The one study looked at reading preferences of 16-24 year olds and found 62% prefer paper.
The other study analyzed reading behaviours (not preferences) of 18-34 year olds, finding 64% (UK)/79% (US) read a paper book in the previous year.
Now, from behaviour let's say we can infer preference. In that case the second study found that an overwhelming majority of 18-34 year olds read print books in the last year, which seems to align with 16-24 year old preferences (though, again, it only speaks to behaviour not preference). That would seem to refute the idea that there's a generational difference at play, here.
Of course, I could be missing some key point. It wouldn't be the first time.