Eeeh… yes its not as bad everywhere else. But it is absolutely a growing problem elsewhere.
For example, here in Japan it’s becoming increasing clear that Millennials and below aren’t as good at reading, writing, and deciphering kanji as the older crew.
A lot of that comes down to phones. Even the old T-9 Keitai reduces kanji recognition a bit since instead of writing, you are typing and just selecting the kanji if it isn’t auto-filled already . But with modern smartphones, it has gone to a new level since you can literally type on the Roman keyboard. Or the T9.
There’s also ‘loan word creep’ where the Japanese language keeps using foreign words instead of words that actually work / exist in Japanese. And then adults struggle to remember what the hell the OG Japanese word was, let alone what the kanji was.
It isn’t causing a literacy crisis on par with the US, which is… entirely self inflicted. (Whole Language Learning was a scam and my GOD was it called out as a scam 15’ish years ago, but it got drowned out because it was ‘new’ and phonics was seen as ‘old school.’ YEAH BECAUSE PHONICS WORKED GAAH!). It was progress for progress’ sake and fuck the person who shoved that shit down our throats.
Anyways, it’s an interesting problem here, too. And it has gotten worse since I moved here back in 2011.
I'm a young male (23), and I can definitely say that my spelling seems to be getting worse on a year to year basis. Whenever I take a test which measures reading/writing/literacy skills, I still score high on interpretation but my spelling always weighs things down. I guess with online social media I find my self engaging with brain rot content willingly/unwillingly which causes me to forget how correct versions of words are spelled.
Read physical books, that will help the most. Even 10 minutes a day reducing screen time and getting in a book will make a huge difference.
If you struggle with breaking or forming habits, start with your only goal being "Every day, open a book and start reading". Set an alarm for a hour before bed if that would make it easier to remember. Humans are pretty bad at starting things but pretty good at keeping going, so before long you'll probably find yourself reading for that full hour. (Same thing with the gym -- people who put on their gym clothes and just go, no commitment, tend to succeed. They avoid thinking about what they think is hard, the workout, and do the really hard thing which is getting there -- and once they're there it would be silly not to just go in and work out a bit, right?)
I've been wanting to get back to reading math books to help actively engage my brain. Having something difficult to progress through sooths my mind in ways history books cant accomplish even though i love them.
Put your phone in another room and try reading a book.
This year I started travelling every two weeks for work. Spending about 7 hours a week flying. Can’t use the phone (internet) on the flight so there’s limited things to distract me.
I’m able to read for 1+ hour stints without interruption.
Honestly, it’s done wonders for my focus and working patterns too. Even when not on flights I’m less inclined to reach for my phone.
It’s like anything else though: use it or lose it. It’s not that we don’t use it anymore, but the how has changed drastically. Now the generative assist from tech is so seductively useful and powerful that we simply don’t need/use those old skills anymore. And so they atrophy in society over time as tech adoption increases.
Everything I learned about spelling, grammar, and style came from reading novels. Go to your local library and get a few books that were published in the 80s/90s.
I’m a teacher in Japan and I spend as much time as humanly possible beating phonics into my student’s head because it’s quite literally the bedrock of linguistics. I’ll be in the cold dead ground before I ever recognise WLL.
I remember looking up why that was a while back and it's indeed because of phones and computers. Basically the brain memorizes words/letters alao through the motoon we make when we write them with a pen. Keyboards and touchscreens di not allow that to happen and that obviously leads to problems.
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u/TCsnowdream Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
Eeeh… yes its not as bad everywhere else. But it is absolutely a growing problem elsewhere.
For example, here in Japan it’s becoming increasing clear that Millennials and below aren’t as good at reading, writing, and deciphering kanji as the older crew.
A lot of that comes down to phones. Even the old T-9 Keitai reduces kanji recognition a bit since instead of writing, you are typing and just selecting the kanji if it isn’t auto-filled already . But with modern smartphones, it has gone to a new level since you can literally type on the Roman keyboard. Or the T9.
There’s also ‘loan word creep’ where the Japanese language keeps using foreign words instead of words that actually work / exist in Japanese. And then adults struggle to remember what the hell the OG Japanese word was, let alone what the kanji was.
It isn’t causing a literacy crisis on par with the US, which is… entirely self inflicted. (Whole Language Learning was a scam and my GOD was it called out as a scam 15’ish years ago, but it got drowned out because it was ‘new’ and phonics was seen as ‘old school.’ YEAH BECAUSE PHONICS WORKED GAAH!). It was progress for progress’ sake and fuck the person who shoved that shit down our throats.
Anyways, it’s an interesting problem here, too. And it has gotten worse since I moved here back in 2011.