What does it mean to know how to read and write? The skills we automatically associate with these verbs differ from the meaning they held in ancient Greece in the 8th century B.C., in the early days of the alphabet, or from when Gutenberg's press mechanized book production around the year 1450. And they have undoubtedly moved significantly away from the modes of consuming and producing information in the digital age.
With the internet, we are experiencing new ways of reading and writing, and it is within this context that the PISA 2025 data, recently released by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and widely covered in the press, need to be discussed. PISA is a comparative exam that seeks to measure the ability of 15-year-old students to use their knowledge in mathematics, science and reading "to face real-life challenges."
The reading results, in general, paint a worrying picture. According to the OECD, from 2018 to 2025 there was a decline in skills that are particularly relevant in an increasingly digital information environment: evaluating information, making connections between multiple sources, and thinking critically about the messages we consume. At the same time, the share of "hasty readers" nearly doubled over the period considered. In the context of PISA, this term refers to students who read hurriedly and give quick but incorrect answers to questions about what they have read.
Regarding Brazil, PISA found that only 1% of students achieved excellence (level 5 or above) in reading. At this level, adolescents are able to comprehend lengthy texts, handle abstract or counterintuitive concepts, and distinguish facts from opinions based on implicit cues related to the content or source of the information. The OECD average of 6% can hardly be considered encouraging either.
The exam also makes clear the inequality in learning outcomes between students at each socioeconomic level. Among those in the lowest income quartile, 67% performed poorly in reading.
Other surveys on the reading habits of the population reinforce the scale of the problem we need to address: it is increasingly common to consume news through influencers' videos or social media headlines, without accessing professional journalism outlets or reading a full report, for example. Or, in their haste and facing the small screen of a mobile phone — the device through which most students in the country experience the internet — many settle for reading a headline or an AI-generated search summary, without dedicating themselves to a more detailed analysis of the available content.
In a society where it has never been so easy to produce, access and share information, knowing how to read has ceased to mean merely understanding what is written. It also means knowing to ask who wrote it, with what evidence, for what purpose, in what context, and why that piece of information reached us.
Preparing students for this new world of reading is a prerequisite for their ability to participate in it autonomously and consciously. It is in this direction that digital and media education needs to advance.
