TECH
Screen effect: Young people's reading skills are declining — and experts fear the impact on anxiety and loneliness
During the 1990s and early 2000s, it was common to hear that this was one of the most well-prepared generations in history. Access to universities was growing, and there was optimism regarding the effects of educational expansion. A few decades later, professors and researchers are raising a different concern: many young people seem to struggle more with reading long, complex texts.
In the United States, university professors report students who cannot keep up with reading lists that were once considered standard. The phenomenon involves changes in education, the loss of reading habits, and a daily life dominated by screens and rapid stimuli.
The problem has already reached American universities. Jessica Hooten Wilson, a professor at Pepperdine University, told *Fortune* that the difficulty observed in some students goes beyond critical thinking.
According to her, there are students who struggle to comprehend even specific sentences and more complex sentence structures.
Other professors report a similar shift. Reading assignments of 25 to 40 pages between classes—once considered normal—are now viewed by some students as a burden that is difficult to manage.
In this context, artificial intelligence tools have entered the equation. Instead of reading the full material, some students turn to chatbots to generate summaries of key points.
This method may speed up studying, but it also eliminates some of the context, nuances, and details found during a full reading.
Consequently, universities have begun adapting their classes. Some have reduced the volume of required reading. Others have started conducting group readings in class or replacing some written content with audio and video.
The problem may begin long before university...The signs are not limited to college students.
Educational data from the United States also reveals difficulties among younger students. In some schools, full books have been replaced by shorter excerpts, reducing students' exposure to lengthy texts. Recent results from U.S. assessments indicate that students are underperforming compared to their counterparts from a decade ago in certain areas. Experts have even used the term "learning recession" to describe part of this trend.
While the pandemic exacerbated various educational issues, it does not account for everything; some negative trends were already evident prior to 2020.
Similar signs are appearing outside the United States. In France, data cited by neuroscientist Michel Desmurget point to reading difficulties among a segment of young adults.
In Spain, conversely, recent indicators regarding the reading habits of children and adolescents are more positive. Even so, teachers report issues with attention and reading comprehension in the classroom.
A major concern is the rise of so-called "skimming" or superficial reading.
Instead of following a text from beginning to end, the reader searches for keywords, highlighted phrases, and quick information. While this behavior is quite useful in certain situations, it differs from the deep reading required to grasp complex arguments.
According to teachers in the United States, some students struggle to maintain focus on long texts.
This difficulty can also trigger an emotional reaction. When individuals come to believe they cannot comprehend a particular book or article, they may avoid reading altogether, thereby losing even more practice.
The result is a potential cycle: less reading leads to reduced familiarity with complex texts, making the next reading experience even more challenging.
Books also help us understand others...The concern extends beyond academic grades. Research links reading habits to various cognitive and social benefits. Books—particularly narratives—expose readers to perspectives, experiences, and situations different from their own.
This can foster skills related to empathy and the understanding of other people.
Michel Desmurget further argues that reading provides valuable knowledge about the world and helps develop the tools needed to analyze information critically. For this reason, researchers and educators fear that a prolonged decline in deep reading could leave young people more vulnerable to simplistic interpretations and misinformation.
Some experts also raise a broader hypothesis: a society that reads less might lose one of the cultural activities that help people share experiences and discuss ideas.
This does not mean that abandoning books directly causes anxiety or loneliness; these phenomena have multiple causes. However, researchers are debating whether the loss of reading-related habits might contribute to an environment of greater isolation.
Our language also seems to be getting simpler...The transformation isn't limited to the reader.
Research has found signs of simplification across various forms of communication. Studies analyzing song lyrics over recent decades have observed shifts in linguistic complexity.
Analyses of political speeches have also identified changes in vocabulary and message structure.
Even certain contemporary books feature more accessible language compared to works from earlier eras.
There is no single explanation for this; cultural, commercial, educational, and technological changes are occurring simultaneously.
But there is one factor impossible to ignore: screens.
Smartphones have changed our relationship with information...Television was already competing with books decades before the internet arrived.
Studies cited by Desmurget show that the leisure time adolescents devoted to reading had already dropped sharply during the second half of the 20th century.
Smartphones and social media have intensified this battle for attention.
Spending hours consuming digital content simply means having less time available for other activities. However, researchers are also studying how the format of these platforms influences the way we consume information.
Short videos, notifications, and infinite feeds provide constant stimulation. Information must grab attention quickly before the user swipes to the next piece of content.
Ángel Barbas, a professor of Communication Theory at UNED, argues that this information avalanche fosters rapid processing and can make it difficult to sustain deep reading.
A generation raised without pauses...To blame young people exclusively would be to ignore the environment in which they grew up.
Generation Z spent much of their childhood and adolescence in an already digitized world. Generation Alpha is growing up in an even more connected environment.
Ariadna Vilalta, author of *Una vida siempre en línea* ("A Life Always Online"), highlights a childhood marked by constant stimulation and few moments of pause.
There is also a shift in life away from screens. In many families, safety concerns have curtailed children's autonomy to play and socialize without supervision. More time spent indoors can also mean more time in front of electronic devices.
Screens, therefore, can be both a cause and a consequence of much broader social shifts.
Reading could become a new kind of privilege...The most worrying consequence may only emerge in the long run.
If the ability to grapple with complex texts becomes increasingly rare, skills related to interpretation, argumentation, and critical thinking could end up being distributed unequally.
In this scenario, families with greater resources could continue to provide books, quiet environments, quality schools, and less reliance on screens, while other groups would have fewer opportunities to develop these habits.
Digital disconnection is already being framed as a sort of modern luxury. Reading could follow the same path. The challenge, then, is not simply to convince a generation to swap smartphones for books. It is to rebuild spaces for attention, silence, and time—allowing children and young people to learn something no technology has rendered obsolete: how to pause before a complex idea and devote enough time to truly understand it.
Young people's reading skills and habits are declining primarily due to the constant distraction of smartphones, social media, and short-form digital content that shorten attention spans and replace deep reading.
Recent reports, assessments, and analyses highlight several core factors contributing to this trend:
Key causes of the decline:
• Digital distractions and Short-Form Media: Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and general smartphone use train young brains to skim information and crave fast-paced entertainment. This makes focusing on long, dense, or complex texts feel difficult and frustrating.
• The rise of generative AI: Tools that instantly supply ready-made answers reduce the need for young people to wrestle with text, analyze information, and build vocabulary or comprehension skills independently.
• Loss of foundational instruction time: Disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic caused lasting gaps in basic reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
• Inadequate teacher training: Many school districts mandate early literacy screenings, but teachers often lack sufficient professional development or confidence to interpret screening data and apply effective instructional methods.
• Simpler books and skimming habits: Even popular modern literature features shorter sentences and simpler structures, reducing the regular mental exercise required to parse sophisticated arguments or literary works
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