Print Format Increases Retention - Implications?

I found both of Michael S. Rosenwald’s articles about print vs. digital reading to be fascinating. I’ve always be a strong proponent of traditional print books myself despite owning a Kindle but I was not aware of the research about the digital brain and the effects on in-depth information processing when reading. 

A lot of people seem to have strong opinions on both sides of the e-book/traditional book debate, which is what a lot of the comments seem to be about. They say e-books are more convenient, environmentally friendly, less strain on your body/back to carry around, less clutter, they are the next step: the car to the horse and carriage. But you can’t simply ignore the fact the millennials seem to prefer traditional print books for a reason: increased retention, for one. 

I bought a Kindle while I was living abroad because it didn’t make sense to buy a lot of books only to have to get rid of them when I moved back home or lug them back and forth between countries. But now I hardly ever use it. When I’m assigned e-books or PDF versions of papers, I almost always print them out because I find that I do understand the concepts better when reading print.  

I think the most important question the author brings up is: what does this mean for the future of our school system? So many schools are switching over to a system where all the textbooks are on tablets and computers. Future generations may not have the option to choose between the two. Given the research presented in the article, are there steps that can be taken to balance the effects that they are seeing? Or is the United States going to start lagging behind other countries in English literature and liberal arts as well as math and science?

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/02/u-s-students-improving-slowly-in-math-and-science-but-still-lagging-internationally/