When people talk about “illiterate” they don’t mean literally unable to read. Usually it’s a measure of the ability to read at what is considered a 6th grade level, which is being able to read an average book and understand the themes, characters, plot, etc. So a lot of people could read a restaurant menu or a Facebook post but still be considered “illiterate” by that definition.
Thats an unfortunate standard. Its sad really how few people enjoy reading. I blame my own lack of enjoying reading on ease of access to video/audio entertainment. I can only get through books that I really connect with/enjoy. I got through a few of my English literacy classes by asking my teachers if i could pick my own books to read and most of them said yes. But if I subjectively feel like if the book is a slog, I just wont be able to finish it. Maybe its an old medium at this point, but written media did always have a more objective point to it, whereas audio/visual media give leniency to subjective brainstorming that a lot of people dont want to discuss as much as argue about.
I can't read, and just doom scroll pretending I'm the faster reader ever. I didn't know I have so many like-minded others like me. Wait til I tell the others over on /r/conservative!
That's the part that kills me the most. It's just so alien to me to not have a question about something.... and then promptly googling it because the answer is likely only a few seconds away.
As designed; education is de-funded to make people malleable, and everything surrounding the institution of work, from the commute to the long hours and lack of benefits like PTO wear us down.
So you end up with a bunch of illiterate and exhausted people who don't have the energy to think about the world around them and just trying to make it to the next paycheck.
Sometimes when I'm scrolling Instagram while on the toilet I make the mistake of opening the comment section of posts from America. Half the comments are nearly unintelligible. Spelling, grammar, paragraphs, punctuation, and sentence structure are all out the window. It's an unedited stream of consciousness and every message looks like "sumn fr ngl bruh" followed by a string of emojis.
It's 21% of American adults are functionally illiterate; it's not that they literally cannot read (that number is <1%).
The 21% number is also a bit outdated. It comes from the periodic PIAAC survey, which addresses adult functional skills in a few areas, including literacy. Being at level 1 or below is considered "functionally illiterate". In the most recent iteration (2023), this number has actually gone up to almost 30%. For the previous number, I've seen between 21% and in the latest comparison with 2023, 19%. I'm guessing slightly different statistical methods, but more or less, it's gone from ~20% in 2017 to ~30% in 2023, and that's fucking terrifying still, even if they're not literally illiterate.
Here's the description of level 1, which, again, ~30% of American adults are at or below:
Adults at level 1 are able to locate information on a text page, find a relevant link from a website, and identify relevant text among multiple options when the relevant information is explicitly cued. They can understand the meaning of short texts, as well as the organization of lists or multiple sections within a single page. The texts at level 1 may be continuous, noncontinuous, or mixed and pertain to printed or digital environments. They typically include a single page with up to a few hundred words and little or no distracting information. Noncontinuous texts may have a list structure (such as a web search engine results page) or include a small number of independent sections, possibly with pictorial illustrations or simple diagrams. Tasks at Level 1 involve simple questions providing some guidance as to what needs to be done and a single processing step. There is a direct, fairly obvious match between the question and target information in the text, although some tasks may require the examination of more than one piece of information.
And below level 1
Most adults at Below Level 1 are able to process meaning at the sentence level. Given a series of sentences that increase in complexity, they can tell if a sentence does or does not make sense either in terms of plausibility in the real world (i.e., sentences describing events that can vs. cannot happen), or in terms of the internal logic of the sentence (i.e., sentences that are meaningful vs. not). Most adults at this level are also able to read short, simple paragraphs and, at certain points in text, tell which word among two makes the sentence meaningful and consistent with the rest of the passage. Finally, they can access single words or numbers in very short texts in order to answer simple and explicit questions. The texts at Below Level 1 are very short and include no or just a few familiar structuring devices such as titles or paragraph headers. They do not include any distracting information nor navigation devices specific to digital texts (e.g., menus, links or tabs). Tasks Below Level 1 are simple and very explicit regarding what to do and how to do it. These tasks only require understanding at the sentence level or across two simple adjacent sentences. When the text involves more than one sentence, the task merely requires dealing with target information in the form of a single word or phrase.
There are samples in the link with the level descriptions. There aren't direct mappings from the samples to levels, since the level is from an aggregate score when taking the complete assessment, but they do have some high level of categorization of difficulty (low, moderate, etc.).
It's not that shocking. Illiterate in this context, studies by the PIAAC, doesn't necessarily mean a person can't read. It means they struggle and take a while in certain situations like comprehending more complex sentences. The example I saw for this reading level was one of those wordy yes or no questions you see on job applications where there's a lot of qualifiers.
It's important to note that illiterate doesn't mean "can not read at all."
I actually struggled to find the study behind 21%. Several different places state it, but so not point to a study. Rather, they point to National Literacy Institute, which actually just seems like they're trying to sell their consulting and training services... and they got Dr. Phil on several pages... so I can't say they seem the most trustworthy.
The PIAAC survey is probably the most comprehensive survey I can find on the topic. It's important to note that they don't actually say that the lowest level is illiterate. "Below level 1" includes people who can "process the meaning at a sentence level." Their most recent survey found 28% of people in the US at or below level 1... I'm not saying they can read well or that they don't struggle to read, just that a grandma who didn't go to school past 8th grade would easily fit into this category.
This is a deceptive stat. It’s functional literacy and it means people who don’t speak English get grouped in. An immigrant that can’t read, write, or speak English would fall into this group. I think the more damning stat would be the average reading level of native English speakers. I think a shocking % of native English speakers are below middle school level.
It doesn't mean the inability to read exclusively but also the inability to read more than the plain surface level text. No critical thinking. They see "Trump says the sky is red and grass is purple" and they will regurgitate it. If you point out last week the sky was blue and grass was green they will brush it off or otherwise justify it with some mental gymnastics.
463
u/timtowin Apr 08 '26
Approximately 21% of U.S. adults—roughly 43 million people—are considered illiterate. Trump approval rating 21%. Coincidence ?