“Are We Becoming a Post-Literate Society?” is the provocative title to an opinion piece by Sarah O’Connor in the December 27 Financial Times. It speaks to the issue we have tried to address here on numerous occasions on why tactile print newspapers and books are vital to sustaining a democracy.
O’Connor does not address the question of democracy per se in her commentary, but the connection between what she does say and that outcome seems very clear to us. We once again sound the alarm on this subject in hopes it is not too little, too late.
She quotes social critic Neil Postman in his book, “Conscientious Objections”, on the “ascendancy of pictures over words in American media, culture and politics.” She goes on citing him, “A culture does not have to force scholars to flee to render them impotent. A culture does not have to burn books to assure they will not be read… There are other ways to achieve stupidity.”
She notes that “technology has changed the way many of us consume information, away from longer, more complex pieces of writing, such as books and newspaper articles, to short social media posts and video clips. At the same time, social media has made it more likely that you read stuff that confirms your views, rather than engaging with diverse perspectives” and rise to the level of capacity for assessment “to distinguish fact from fiction, navigate ambiguity and manage complexity.”
So, today, she points out, “Thirty percent of American adults read at a level that you would expect from a 10 year old,” according to the results of an extensive study by the international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) based in person assessments of the literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills of 160,000 adults aged 16-65 in 31 different countries. Compared to only a decade earlier, she notes, “the trends are striking,” with proficiency improving in only two countries (Finland and Denmark) and declining significantly in 11. Among better-educated persons, proficiency fell in 13 countries and increased in only one (Finland).
This is our primary concern with the impact of TikTok as a national security challenge, for example, though few are willing to consider it in that way. We recall back when the national newspaper U.S.A. Today first appeared. There was a grave concern at the time for the potential implications of the fact that the stories were all so short and lacking in depth and nuance. Now, TikTok and other social media platforms are drawing young minds into a world of short sound and video bites that make even U.S.A. Today stories seem like extensive scholarly treatises.
The current consideration of cell phone policies in public schools needs to be seen in this context. But further, it is the greater challenge to develop and extend the attention span of minds of all ages which is the key to preserving almost everything we value in our free society.
