It’s worth recalling that mass literacy is only about 300 years old, so the modern culture of private reading is only slightly older than the United States, which is probably itself a consequence of mass literacy - sparked by Luther, Gutenberg, etc. Ironically, today the USA is also probably leading the decline in mass literacy woth a “post-literate president.” Maybe book-reading will eventually become an anachronistic hobby, although even Thomas Jefferson made this dire prophecy too about fiction [1].
“Acoustic representations activated in silent reading are best characterized as inner speech rather than as abstract phonological codes.” [2]
What they're getting at is that people aren't able to sit down and digest a moderately challenging book. This is due to attention span, the habit of 'scrolling' vs turning a page, etc... Those people can still 'read' and are literate in a sense.
I would say most of us have this situation already but it's much worse when you look more broadly around. People without an interest in books used to read tabloids which for all their faults were still more edifying then what the TikTok or YouTube shorts algorithms are presenting.
That is not what PISA is about. The test does not care about your ability to sit through "The Miserables". Long PISA exam text is still pretty short. The test is about your ability to figure out implied factual information from something somewhat convoluted.
This feels like a non sequitur? The point is that people either aren't able or willing to read books anymore; that's what the author of that Atlantic piece means by post-literate. By your own admission, PISA isn't relevant.
itchingsphynx · · focus · HN ↗
“Acoustic representations activated in silent reading are best characterized as inner speech rather than as abstract phonological codes.” [2]
1. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/reading-crisis-postliterate-age/687618/?gift=j9r7avb6p-KY8zdjhsiSZyM-26EN9jpQa5BZoBCHLjE" rel="nofollow">https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/reading-crisis-...
2. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03205520" rel="nofollow">https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03205520
claiir · · focus · HN ↗
[1]: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_St...
AdamN · · focus · HN ↗
I would say most of us have this situation already but it's much worse when you look more broadly around. People without an interest in books used to read tabloids which for all their faults were still more edifying then what the TikTok or YouTube shorts algorithms are presenting.
watwut · · focus · HN ↗
panda-giddiness · · focus · HN ↗
AdamN · · focus · HN ↗