A new global study reports that teenage reading performance is declining, with reading levels falling to the worst results seen in a century. The study links the slump to a surge in screen time among young people.
Outlets describe the finding as part of a broader literacy trend affecting teens, with screen-based activities increasingly taking time that may otherwise be spent on reading. While the coverage shared is limited, the general emphasis across sources is consistent: the decline is measured as historically low, and the increase in digital device use is presented as a key contributing factor.
One source frames the issue as a broad cause-and-effect relationship between screen time and reading, while the other reproduces the headline without adding further reporting details. No additional figures, country breakdowns, or methodological specifics are included in the provided excerpts, so the scope of the study’s exact measurements and mechanisms is not fully detailed here.