World News for Students of English

22-09-2026 15:00

Tests show that teenage reading skills are dropping rapidly around the world. Experts say reading on digital screens turns young people into hasty readers.

Instead of reading carefully, students skim texts. This means they don’t fully understand what they read.

Using AI tools to write assignments also stops students from practicing deep reading and writing. This trend is dangerous for society and democracy. If young people cannot understand complex information, they cannot make good decisions as informed voters.

But we can fix this problem. Countries like Estonia use technology to make students think harder, not to make work too easy. Parents can help by reading to young children and encouraging everyone to read physical books for 20 minutes every day.

Difficult words: hasty (hurried), assignment (a piece of work or task), encourage (to give support or hope to someone to do something).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.