Screen time’s effect on literacy rates may be mores serious than we thought.
Don’t call Xaviera Colopy an “iPad kid.”
According to research published by numerous academic journals, it’s a term that describes a generation of children that gets all of their entertainment from an iPad or other forms of technology. But it’s also an ongoing joke, popularized on social media, about kids’ overreliance on their electronic devices for entertainment.
“I see a bunch of videos of children freaking out because they have to go eat dinner, or something,” said Colopy, a freshman.
While she acknowledges that her generation of students spends a lot of time on devices, they still care about other things, too.
“It’s just more busy here [Riverside],” she said, “so you don’t have as much time to just sit down and read a book.”
Children born in 2010 and later are part of “Gen Alpha,” according to Mark McCrindle, who coined the term.
“Currently, it’s the youngest generation,” writes Olivia Munson in a 2024 USA Today article. “With more than 2.8 million people born weekly, Gen Alpha is projected to become the ‘largest generation in the history of the world.’”
That makes most Riverside ninth graders the first cohort of students who have spent their lives looking at more screens than books.
Colopy believes the beginning of Gen Alpha is 2012 rather than 2010, but the change in behavior is real.
“I think that it [technology reliance] affects behavior because I feel like becoming more reliant means that you are also more irritable when you don’t have it and you get angry when people take it away.”
However, she also thinks that it is inaccurate to categorize all of Gen Alpha as iPad kids.
“It depends on the parents’ teaching style, how they want to raise the kid.”
She also thinks the addictive nature of personal devices could be concerning for the future of education.
“People are not interested in real things, which could lead to a skew of jobs.”
THE DECLINE
Opinions aside, literacy rates are falling.
Literacy is defined by the ability to read and write, so low literacy rates normally have to do with lower reading and analyzing skills, not necessarily complete illiteracy. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says literacy is “typically measured according to the ability to comprehend a short simple statement on everyday life.”Additionally the adult literacy rate represents ages 15 and above, which brings in a huge range of responses. Literacy rate is more of a functional literacy rate.
The current adult literacy rate in the US is 79%, according to the National literacy Institute. That’s down 10 points from 2017.
Screen time plays a role in the change. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has written about how devices have increased rates of anxiety, disrupted sleep and decreased attention spans.
“The first image that comes to my mind is a kid with an iPad like this close to their face,” said freshman Althea King as she motioned her hand a couple inches away from her eyes. “Getting an iPad really early and not having the classic childhood.”
King thinks that characterization is an overgeneralization, but does see the behavior shift happening.
“I don’t think that’s everyone, but I feel like it’s getting more and more like that.”
However, she does see the increase of the reliance on technology affecting the education here at Riverside.
“Even myself, I use my computer a lot and at the beginning of the year,” she said. “When we didn’t have them, it was a lot harder.”
OPINIONS
King also sees people reading less physical books but still consuming literature online.
“I would say definitely less actual books, and more online but I think it just depends on the person,” said King.
But since English III and AP Literature teacher Mira Prater started working here in 2008, she has seen a different change in students’ desire to read at RHS.
“I see students are much more interested in reading books,” says Prater. “They have an interest in choosing the books they want to read, less an emphasis on wanting to read, maybe curriculum.”
Prater believes this growth in desire to read also has to do with the values here at Riverside.
“We have a school culture here where, at least in English and literature, we encourage students to read whatever they want,” says Prater. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a graphic novel or if it’s a historical fiction text, but I have seen students, standard, honors, and AP, feel like they have a choice in what they want to read and I’ve seen that desire grow.”
A 2022 New York Times article titled “It’s ‘Alarming’: Children Are Severely Behind in Reading,” highlights the nationwide reading crisis within schools, resulting in almost a third of children in the youngest grades failing to meet standard on reading benchmarks.
This drop in reading scores is reported to have happened in 2022, but The News & Observer published an article in 2025 that reported no significant change in NC’s scores since 2022, which were its lowest in 20 years.
Much of the data coincided with students across the country doing school online due to quarantine rules during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I think the pandemic had a number of effects on education, but kids are so much more connected to their phones; it forced all of us to be on our phones so much more,” says Prater. “Once students can disengage from their phones then I do see them paying attention to their work and performing like typically students have, but it does take quite a bit of effort to get kids off their phones.”
Prater isn’t the only teacher to notice the prevalence of phones in the classroom. The National Council of Teachers of English released a statement in 2022 about literacy “expanding.”
“English language arts (ELA) educators at all levels must help learners develop the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed for life in an increasingly digital and mediated world,” the statement reads. “The time has come to decenter book reading and essay writing as the pinnacles of English language arts education.”
Though grasping high schoolers’ attentions can be hard, technology has also broadened horizons when it comes to consuming literature.
“A lot of [education] now is technology based,” says freshman Tia Wurster. “A lot of teachers have online stuff so the computers being gone has definitely changed things.”
“I see that more students are more willing to read on their phone or their kindle, and are more comfortable with that method of reading, whereas I can’t read digitally,” said Prater. “I need a physical book in my hand. I would prefer essays printed out instead of me reading them on a computer, so I am very much antiquated in that method.”
Academic journals recognize a new wave of e-book consumers, but evidence shows little to no difference in students reading comprehension when consuming literature physically or digitally. Rather than comprehension differences, the effects favor traditional reading over digitally reading when texts are relevant to students “professional discipline.”
Prater, who is currently reading Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation, recognizes the issues regarding discipline within her classroom, due to the distractions that technology can create.
“By allowing students to use a device to consume literature, that does not take away the temptation for them to quickly click over when they get notification from Instagram or a text, and so I feel like they’re going to be more disrupted when consuming,” says Prater. “So yes, I do think that that [reading using technology] is a hindrance to their consumption and understanding of literature.”
Click to read about: Equity Issues!
Based on statistical evidence from the National Center for Education Statistics, students of color are dramatically more affected by the falling literacy rates than white students.
Kelly Newsome, Riverside’s teaching and learning coordinator, also sees how bias and racial inequalities have affected students here at Riverside.
“You would have to look at the breakdown of the classes and kind of see where the emphasis is put,” said Newsome. “I think there are a lot of internalized biases that impact how we teach our students of color and how we assume they can work.”
Based on 2024 statistics, Durham Public schools is made up of 37.1% Black students, 35.2% Hispanic students, 19.5% White students, and 8.1% other races or two or more races.
“Although Riverside is majority non white students, there is a lack of the same resources for those students and a lack of push for those students,” said Newsome. “We’re not pushing them to read as much because the assumption is that they can’t.” “So we dumb down the education, if you will, we’re not teaching them on grade level,” she said.
This is reflected in recent statistics (shown right) in elementary and middle schoolers within DPS.
“So that definitely plays a huge role in the illiteracy issue that we’re having at this school, and I think that might go nationwide as well.”
