I discovered the hidden benefit of E Ink tablets, and this study proves it

Can working on a digital tablet actually contribute to greater productivity? A recent study suggests so. It’s great news for anyone who owns a Remarkable Paper Pro or Boox Note Max — two E Ink tablets I reviewed over the last year and praised as laptop alternatives.

Also: I used ReMarkable’s new colored E Ink tablet for two weeks – and can’t go back to ‘real’ paper

I’m an enjoyer of the Remarkable Paper Pro and regularly use it for freeform tasks. The act of physically writing something down helps me remember it more, but the on-device organization also allows me to organize thoughts in a way you just cannot do on a laptop. As this study suggests, this kind of “switching up” of how we organize data might be good for our brains.

Switching up

The study was commissioned by Remarkable and overseen by neuroscientist Dr Thomas Zoëga Ramsøy from the Copenhagen Business School. It consisted of 60 participants with no previous experience using the device. They were assigned to work on either a tablet or a computer, utilizing tasks that required reading, multitasking, and memory recall.

It turns out that the participants who worked on the digital paper tablets had 35% lower stress levels while completing their tasks, as well as a 30% reduction in cognitive load. Additionally, the study found that the participants who used tablets experienced 25% higher visual and verbal creativity, while maintaining 17% better memory recall. 

These are impressive stats, for sure, but it should be noted that a sample size of 60 participants is not particularly extensive, and the fact that it was commissioned by Remarkable might suggest results could be skewed in one direction. However, the data was acquired via medically standard methods of measuring stress, namely electroencephalography (EEG) brain monitoring and heart-rate variability (HRV).

Also: I replaced my Kindle with an E Ink tablet that runs on Android – and don’t regret it

For the study, researchers measured the following metrics: vigilance and focus, cognitive load, learning and memory, stress, and creativity. They measured the biological data during each task.

Vigilance and focus is probably the easiest to talk about, since it is both universally relatable (and obvious when you have lost it). Working on a laptop with notifications, pop-ups, and dozens of open tabs can be distracting enough to get anything done, and is one of the driving arguments for Remarkable as an alternative to the monkey-mind from a laptop.

Also: I tested an E Ink tablet worthy of replacing my Remarkable (and it wins in some ways)

Participants were required to keep their attention sustained on a single task: monitoring a stream of stimuli on the screen and responding to questions based on what they were seeing, all while ignoring non-targets. The people working on PCs scored overall higher degrees of drowsiness, while those on Remarkable tablets scored overall higher on concentration.

Interesting metric

One of the most interesting metrics to me, however, was in the creativity category, with participants using the tablet scoring markedly higher on creative tasks than those on laptops. Specifically, researchers saw a 25% increase in the diversity of ideas, and an 11% increase in idea novelty compared to users on PCs.

Also: I switched to the premium dumbphone everyone’s talking about, and it puts E Ink to shame

If you have been on the fence about buying a new E Ink tablet, this scientific study may or may not sway your opinion. But it does go to show that they can simplify the process, at least for some people. Often, the simpler the tool for the job, the better. You cannot get distracted by notifications and doomscrolling if you are on a device that simply does not support it.

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