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Has anyone else noticed a sudden lack of reading comprehension skills? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 year ago by ThatWeirdGuy1001@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

459 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Just as the title asks I've noticed a very sharp increase in people just straight up not comprehending what they're reading.

They'll read it and despite all the information being there, if it's even slightly out of line from the most straightforward sentence structure, they act like it's complete gibberish or indecipherable.

Has anyone else noticed this? Because honestly it's making me lose my fucking mind.

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[–] JackiesFridge@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago (2 children)

One of my tasks at work is creating content - blogs, social media posts, internal communication emails, etc. We are instructed to write everything at a 5th-grade level because that's where the average American reads. Not the lowest-level American, the average.

I also get to do customer support for people who would not have to contact me if they had actually read the information I wrote for them.

[–] agertudici@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I'm a nurse and we were taught to educate patients at the fifth grade level as well. Believe it or not, the sex ed level is even lower! The average American seems to struggle with such topics as "it's bad to touch or be touched when the person being touched doesn't like it" and "don't put random household objects in your butthole."

[–] blackluster117@possumpat.io 1 points 1 year ago

Instructions unclear, my colon has an amazing idea according to my x-ray tech.

[–] JackiesFridge@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

johnconnor.gif: "We're not gonna make it, are we? Humanity I mean."

[–] Anonymouse@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't know if it's at a 5th grade level, but the XKCD comic has an editor that flags words that are not in the top 500 most used words. The author used it in a few comics to explain complicated things in "plain English".

[–] JackiesFridge@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I'd say that would be useful, but using it would be depressing so it sounds like a double-edged sword.