Millions of people refuse to read & it shows in lack of comprehension and growing stupidity

It’s a common occurrence on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn, you go to any article, read the comment section you'll see people post but only read the title. They state their opinion according to the titles, which are mostly nonsense, that’ll surely show they have no idea about the articles contnets.

These are the former students that wrote book reports in school without even touching the damn book.

This was especially on the subject of COVID-19 virus. People only wanted to share their thoughts without much reading. Some believe that the virus was never real. There are another million or more who say that no one has ever died from this virus at all.

I have lived in two different African countries. Theres been the same hoax stories in Africa as well even more that say this was created to target just Africa. Or perhaps that African leaders are just lying about it to get money.

The weirdest being that some in African countries are just now learning that animals can get the virus this shows the lack of reading taking place. (owned by the same media giants)

One news agency just wrote about Hippos getting covid in late 2022, Even the news reporters aren't reading, information that the world has known since the start of Covid-19.

Americans Reading Fewer Books Than in Past

Average number of books read down to 12.6 from 15.6 in 2016

Percentage reading any books is stable; fewer are reading more than 10

College graduates show largest decline in number of books read

The results are based on a Dec. 1-16 Gallup poll, which updated a trend question on book reading. The question asks Americans to say how many books they "read, either all or part of the way through" in the past year. Interviewers are instructed to include all forms of books, including printed books but also electronic books and audiobooks, when entering the respondent's answer.

The decline in book reading is mostly a function of how many books readers are reading, as opposed to fewer Americans reading any books. The 17% of U.S. adults who say they did not read any books in the past year is similar to the 16% to 18% measured in 2002 to 2016 surveys, though it is higher than in the 1999 to 2001 polls.

The drop is fueled by a decline in the percentage of Americans reading more than 10 books in the past year. Currently, 27% report that they read more than 10 books, down eight percentage points since 2016 and lower than every prior measure by at least four points.

Source: Gallup News

Why are South African children struggling to read properly?

Eight out of every 10 children in South Africa can’t read properly. Not in English, not in their home language, not in any language. According to The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), an international comparative reading assessment: 78% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning, and this is significantly worse for children tested in African languages—93% of Grade 4 students tested in Sepedi could not read for meaning with similarly large percentages among Setswana (90%), Tshivenda (89%), isiXhosa (88%), Xitsonga (88%), isiZulu (87%) and isiNdebele (87%). At this stage of a child’s development, the ability to locate explicit information and make straightforward inferences about events and reasons for actions is considered crucial for learning other subjects from Grade 4 onward.

From April 2019

Source: Africa as a Country Website

World literacy rates don't include comprehension of what was read. As many people during their education have been taught to memorize things for a test, then after the test is taken retention is lost. Also many tasked with reading a basic news article aren't able to comprehend and repeat what they've just read.

Rates of literacy per country.

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