From Reading and Listening to Downloading and Installing
Psychology Today | 02.06.2026 01:46
We treat reading as bedrock, the floor beneath everything else we build. The data suggest the floor is giving way. Recent reporting on adult skills indicates that a majority of American adults now read below a sixth-grade level, a figure that translates into well over 100 million people. The trend shows no sign of flattening. On the most recent international adult-skills assessment, average U.S. literacy scores fell between 2017 and 2023, and the share of adults scoring at the lowest proficiency levels rose sharply over that same period.
