(NewsNation) — IQ researchers cite increased consumption of digital media and entertainment and less time spent reading and writing as contributing factors to declining IQ scores in the United States.
A 2023 study found that Americans' IQs have increased dramatically over the past century, but now appear to be declining.
“It's probably a shift away from media consumption, a shift away from reading, a shift away from writing itself,” Professor Stefan Dombrowski, an IQ researcher at Rider University, said in an interview Tuesday on NewsNation's “On Balance with Leland Vittert.” It has more to do with that.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 8- to 10-year-olds currently spend an average of 6 hours a day, 11- to 14-year-olds spend an average of 9 hours a day, and 15- to 18-year-olds spend an average of 6 hours a day. Older adults spend seven and a half hours doing activities that can affect their cognitive abilities.
The study found that IQ scores declined in three of the four broad areas of intelligence from 2006 to 2018, reversing a century-old trend in scores.
Dombrovskis said the two-year suspension of learning during the coronavirus lockdown may also have played a role.
The study, published in the journal Intelligence, found that scores declined in areas such as logic, vocabulary, visual and mathematical problem solving, and analogy, similar to the old SAT exam. IQ scores in these three categories declined by up to 2 points over his 12 years.
Scores declined across age groups, education levels, and genders, with the sharpest declines among younger and less educated test takers. The only area that showed an increase was spatial reasoning, which measures the analysis of 3D objects.
This finding further strengthens research on the “Flynn effect,” an observation made by intelligence researcher James Flynn, who observed an increase in IQ scores throughout the 20th century. However, researchers found that a reversal began around 2000, and hypothesized that screen time and technology were slowing down society.
The United States ranks 31st in the world education rankings, behind top countries such as China, South Korea, and Finland.
China's average IQ score is 104, compared to 97 for the United States, and Dombrovsky said that while that seven-point difference is “significant,” it is not the only determinant of success.
Dombrovskis cautioned that IQ is just a measure, and that factors such as personality, emotional intelligence and culture are also likely to influence performance.
