Before technology was popularized, people used to have books in their hands all the time. However, now with technology at our fingertips and the easiest access to information and education we’ve ever had, America’s literacy is becoming a huge problem. Imagine how hard it will be for someone to sign a contract that they can’t even read or to try to research a topic that is important to them, but they can’t read an article. The growing inability to read comes from various causes, such as lack of access to adult education, poverty, learning differences and disabilities, and technology use.

National University (nu.edu) found that from 2017 to 2023 U.S. adults’ literacy scores declined by 12 points, and in the same time frame, adults scoring at the lowest reading level increased by nine percentage points. This is a concerning decline and can lead to a turbulent future for America and its people. 

Adult illiteracy could be fixed if more people were aware of the literacy programs offered. National University also found that fewer than 10% of adults with low literacy skills are enrolled in adult education programs, and 80% of adults say they don’t feel knowledgeable about literacy programs, leading them to not seek these programs out.

Other priorities such as work and kids can also make it difficult for adults to seek these programs out. ProLiteracy (proliteracy.org) says that 59 million adults classify as reading at a low literacy level, and it’s not just adults that suffer from the literacy decline either; even kids currently in school are suffering.

From 2019 to 2024 the Nation’s Report Card has shown a five point decrease for fourth and eighth grade students. The National Assessment Governing Board said, “The 2024 results show that fewer than a third of students nationwide are working at the NAEP Proficient level in reading at both grades.” This level of illiteracy should be concerning to government officials, and we should be looking into the causes of this in classrooms. 

One of those contributing factors is poverty. According to ProLiteracy nearly 80% of people below the poverty line are reading at a level 2 or below. Poverty can force kids to leave school to focus on working or family responsibilities and put their education on hold.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showed that students who were considered economically disadvantaged read at levels far below peers in wealthier areas. This is mostly due to the fact that lesser privileged areas tend to get less funding for their schools.

“Some states have recognized this and led the charge to overhaul their school funding systems to use a weighted student-based formula that allocates funding based on student need,” says ProLiteracy. If more states can implement this, there may be more progress towards helping pull kids from underprivileged backgrounds into a more successful future.

However, learning differences and disabilities can also contribute to lower literacy levels as well; it is found that 2.4 million school-aged students have a Specific Learning Disability (SLD) according to the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Out of the fourth and eightth grade students tested by the NAEP, 90% of the kids classified with an SLD are not proficient in reading or math.

Looking at a broader picture, 1 in 5 students have a learning or attention issue, and only 1 in 50 of them receive accommodations, according to the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA). The number of kids in schools who need to be accommodated is substantial, but the number that actually get those accommodations is not. How can we expect every child in our nation to learn when we are not giving them all a fair opportunity? Not all students with learning disabilities even finish school with their rate of dropping out being three times higher than students without a learning disability according to the LDA.

One of the biggest contributing factors to the reading crisis is the decreased attention spans, lack of reading practice, and level of distraction caused by technology.

“There’s nothing but five second videos on your phone. No one has the attention span to get invested in a story. Personally, I get tired even reading a paragraph,” London Bolton, senior, said.

In a recent Pew study, 72% of teachers reported cell phones to be a major problem in the classroom, and while some states, like Ohio, have started enacting cell phone bans in schools, they are not easily enforced or readily followed.

America’s math and reading scores tanked after the introduction of educational technology, like one-to-one devices, in the classroom, and a report from Columbia University showed that “evidence that children’s brains process written texts more deeply when they are presented in print rather than on a digital screen.”

Congressional testimony from a neuroscientist reported that Gen Z is the first generation to be less cognitively capable than their parents. This new cognitive decline by generation correlates with the use of technology in the classroom.

In addition, technology use outside of the classroom also impacts literacy. International researchers have found that the lowest achieving students are also the heaviest social media users.

While screens may seem like they have the ability to aid in the development of knowledge and skill, a 2014 study of 3000 college students showed that two-thirds of the time that they were on screens, they were off-task. And that was prior to the social media, gaming, and scrolling culture of today.

All of these factors combined, poverty, learning disabilities, the increase of screen time, and less exposure to literature put future generations in a huge predicament.

While the increase in the distractions around us has contributed a huge role in the reading crisis, there are plenty of things that can be done in classrooms as well to alleviate these issues.

We could spend more on schools in more impoverished areas, research and use best practices with kids who have a learning difference, or provide accommodations.

The same technology that is being used to cover up these problems can also be used to help fix them. We have better data than we did before on which areas are impoverished or which schools are underperforming. We can see data on students now, and this could be getting used to help teach kids with learning difficulties.

So the biggest question is why isn’t it being used to help students, and why aren’t we taking more action to secure America’s future?