{
  "id": 8256003,
  "title": "Technology, AI has made us hasty readers – and that's a big problem",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/technology-ai-has-made-us-hasty-readers-and-thats-a-big-problem",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-18T13:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Channel News Asia",
    "slug": "channel-news-asia",
    "url": "https://www.channelnewsasia.com/today/big-read/hasty-reading-students-ai-critical-thinking-social-media-6391376"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Teachers report that some students lack the patience and endurance to read entire texts, often skipping words and answering questions prematurely. This trend has intensified over the past five years, according to secondary school mathematics teacher Mr Julian Teo. He highlights a mathematics problem requiring 146 words for students to calculate a cost between four cities, which many students find too lengthy to read properly. The 2025 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) found that despite Singapore's 15-year-olds still leading in reading scores, there has been an eight-point decline in average reading scores from 543 in 2022 to 535 in 2025. This decline is not unique to Singapore; it is evident among teenagers globally, with the OECD's PISA 2025 Results report emphasizing the decline in essential skills like evaluating information, making connections across sources, and critical thinking in an increasingly digital world. The OECD also noted a nearly doubling of 'hasty readers' – students who rush through texts and provide quick but inaccurate answers – between 2018 and 2025. Research suggests that AI use and digital habits may negatively impact learning and attention. A Turkish study found that unrestricted AI access led to poorer performance in closed-book tests, while a Singapore-Australia study of 583 people aged 13 to 25 found that 68% reported difficulty focusing, with 33% describing internet scrolling as an addiction and 52% admitting frequent classroom distractions. A 2024 NLB study revealed that only 28% of Singaporean adults read books weekly, with 62% preferring other activities and 38% becoming bored after reading. Education and literacy experts argue that sustained long-form reading builds attention, critical thinking, mental well-being, empathy, and social understanding. NLB launched ReadSG, a five-year campaign to encourage daily reading among Singaporeans, acknowledging that strong literacy skills are more important than ever in an AI-driven world.",
  "summary": "Teachers say some students no longer have the patience or stamina to follow a text from start to end – they skip words, rush through questions and miss the meaning of longer texts. The implications go beyond getting an answer wrong.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}