Reports like this play into a very loud narrative that adults (in the United States) are getting stupider, but I really don't think that's true, and I also don'

Reports like this play into a very loud narrative that adults (in the United States) are getting stupider, but I really don't think that's true, and I also don't think that it is supported by these results, for at least two reasons: 1) What the results actually show most starkly is that the 55-65 cohort today had reduced performance compared to the 55-65 cohort in 2017 (who of course are 62-72 today). > it was older adults whose scores declined the most. Those aged 55 to 65 went down eight 8 points in numeracy...In literacy, the oldest adults declined by a full 16 points If you are 72, you were born in 1952 and spent your primary and secondary educational years (during which the tested skills are mostly taught) in relatively placid, calm, prosperous times (especially for white people). The cohort tested in 2024, by contrast, went to school during the Vietnam War, the assassinations of JFK/RFK/MLK, the civil rights movement, etc. Perhaps they had more important things to do than learn the nuances of grammar and sentence structure? If they were tested on empathy, social skills, nuances of political statements, etc., do we expect the trend to stay the same? 2) The PIAAC methodology doesn't appear to account (unless that accounting is mentioned somewhere I'm not seeing) for the diversification of media that has occurred in the intervening years, and especially in the most affected cohorts. More people are consuming their most intellectually stimulating content via audio (in audiobooks or podcasts) or video (via lectures, etc) than ever before. It seems plausible that our brains have become better wired and adapted for critical thinking in response to audiovisual stimuli rather than written words. I'd love to see how a conversational or audiovisual-based analysis differs from 2017 to today. My hunch is that we'd be seeing improvements, not declines.