This is an article about declining literacy in the West. But this is notably a Western decline problem. In some other parts of the world, literacy is improving.

One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Ukraine in 2020 was that even the political jokes that you see on television have real highbrow wit and humor, which assume a high degree of literacy to understand. Even talking to some kids who were 14 years old, I was surprised at how they had memorized poetry in multiple languages and could write beautifully in cursive. You don't find that anymore in the West.

Sure, kids over here doomscroll themselves on TikTok as well, but they are not illiterate.