Affected by the surge in screen time, teenagers’ reading levels have dropped to the lowest level of this century.

The PISA report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2025 shows that the reading, math, and science scores of 760,000 15-year-old students in 91 countries and regions worldwide fell to the lowest levels in this century. Specifically, reading scores dropped from 501 points in 2012 to 466 points, science scores from 506 points to 486 points, and math scores from 502 points to 469 points. OECD Secretary-General Matthias Klingmann noted that the surge in screen time is closely related to the decline in reading skills, with students reading more quickly and being more easily distracted by digital devices. The report found that over a quarter of students were distracted by electronic devices during science classes, and their scores began to decline when they spent more than 3.4 hours daily on digital entertainment or more than 5 hours on studying and entertainment combined. East Asia performed best, with students from China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore ranking among the top ten in all three subjects; students who relied excessively on AI to write papers showed significantly lower science scores. The report does not explicitly support a comprehensive ban…