Jan. 20, 2026
By Aubrey Valente
Staff Writer
In a world where scrolling and texting dominate, reading and writing have shifted from paper to pixels.
This raises concerns about the future of literacy, specifically in light of a September 2025 report by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which noted that the past decade may rank among the worst in the history of American education, with about a third of tested 12th-graders lacking basic reading skills.
Freshman Anna Mosashvili said these results do not surprise her.
“Literacy is declining because people aren’t willing to put in the time and effort to search for information,” Mosashvili said.
While she recognizes the decline in teen literacy as a problem, she said it does not affect her.
“Because I hardly spend any time online, staying focused on long literature for school isn’t difficult for me,” Mosashvili said. “I never accidentally use slang in my school writing, but I do sometimes say ‘LOL’ out loud instead of laughing.”
Mosashvili said she is hopeful that teen literacy will not decline any further.
“The constant need to code-switch for formal and informal language has impacted the way teens write. They are almost writing as if they are texting.”
“I think there will be efforts to improve it as people realize the negative impact of social media and the internet,” Mosashvili said.
English and public speaking teacher Ms. Burns said teens’ use of the internet has benefits.
“Teens are becoming more skilled at quick comprehension and communication. Responding through [social] media has trained them to really process and return information more quickly,” Burns said. “That can sometimes be detrimental, but I think that it has improved the speed at which people communicate.”
However, Burns said she is concerned that fewer students are reading books for pleasure.
“Students are much more into… short-form content like TikTok [and] Instagram Reels that can be easily consumed and scrolled onto the next thing,” Burns said.
She said using social media decreases teens’ attention spans, negatively affecting their comprehension of longer texts.
“Students tend to struggle more with staying on topic and staying focused with various assignments much more than they did in the past,” Burns said.
She said another downside of modern communication is that students increasingly use slang in their essays.
LINE GRAPH BY ZAHARA CHOWDHURY This line graph reflects data released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress in September 2025.
“The constant need to code-switch for formal and informal language has impacted the way teens write. They are almost writing as if they are texting,” Burns said.
History teacher Ms. Schiraldi said social media creates constant distractions and short-form content makes full-length books less appealing to young people.
“In my 12 years of teaching, I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen a student during downtime pick up a book as opposed to picking up their phone. It generally doesn’t happen,” Schiraldi said.
She said the internet and social media discourage teens from reading and writing.
“I don’t think social media can help improve literacy. Instead, it takes away from time management and distracts teens from doing important work or reading books,” Schiraldi said.
Sophomore Sebastian Lupinski said writing online makes it easier to share ideas quickly, though it can also lead to less thoughtful responses.
“One of the biggest problems with excessive social media use isn’t declining literacy but a shrinking attention span. Constant exposure to fast, bite-sized content makes it harder to concentrate, reflect deeply or stay engaged with longer, more meaningful material,” Lupinski said.
He said online platforms have the potential to improve literacy, yet they are often misused or underused.
“The real question isn’t whether technology is good or bad, but whether teens are learning to use it intentionally and thoughtfully,” said Lupinski.
