Malcolm Gladwell was perhaps the most notable exponent of the view that the internet was making us stupider with his book The Shallows outlining the ways in which he thought the web was changing our brains for the worse.  While there are undoubtedly changes to how we think as a result of the internet, the jury is still out on whether those changes are predominantly negative or not.

A recent study from the University of Twente adds its perspective to the mix by examining the impact online chatting has on the reading skills of youngsters.

Reading skills

The study examined data from the PISA results in 2009 and 2018 across 63 countries.  This was a period during which online chatting increased significantly in practically every country, but the rate differed significantly from country to country.  For instance, in Japan, the rate of students using online chat daily rose from 9% to 85%.  In Russia, however, the growth was from 42% to just 58%.

The author highlights how the growth in digital devices has meant we read more and more things online than in print.  The authors raise concerns about the use of digital media and the potential for its use to encourage people to skim or scan articles rather than engage in the more time-consuming approaches that are required for deeper understanding.

The researchers identified a link between the increase in online chatting in a country and the decline in the reading skills of 15-year-olds.  Indeed, the researchers believe that online chat contributed to a fall in the PISA scores of around 25 points.

“While it is important to recognize the adverse effects of online chatting, efforts to reduce this phenomenon seem unrealistic and pointless,” the researchers say. “Banning online chatting to improve reading skills is just as radical as promoting a return to poverty to rid the world of obesity and other wealth-related health problems.”

The researchers believe that their findings illustrate the importance of developing a robust reading strategy, with the rise in online chatting typically resulting in a decline in the quality of such strategies.  As such, they believe that more support is needed to get standards back up again in the face of the deleterious impact of online chat.