Digital technologies revolutionised the written word in the 21st century. In the past, mass production of printed books made information widely available and incentivised people to develop reading skills. Still, the production of books remained in the hands of the few, not the many. With digital technologies, all that has changed. Everyone can become a journalist or a publisher. People now find millions of answers to their questions on the Internet at the click of a button. But what they have lost is the certainty of what is right or wrong, true or not true. Literacy in the 21st century is about constructing and validating knowledge. The more information there is, the more readers have to know how to navigate through ambiguity, and triangulate and validate viewpoints.
Reading in a digital world is even more challenging given the increasing production and consumption of media content. Sometimes, it seems that the speed of information dissemination comes before the quality of the information itself. This contributes to “fake news”, misinformation and a “post-truth” climate. Social media algorithms are designed to channel the flow of likeminded people towards each other. This creates “echo chambers”, which reinforce our thoughts and opinions rather than challenge them, fuelling people’s confirmation bias. The digital divide exacerbates these challenges for the most disadvantaged. Many students do not have access to the Internet at home and must rely on schools to learn and practice their digital skills. With the Covid-19 pandemic and school closures, students have had to do their schooling at home and on their own. This crisis makes plain that it is urgent to develop autonomous and advanced reading skills to prepare young people for an increasingly volatile, uncertain, and ambiguous world.
Reading was the main subject assessed in PISA 2018, and the reading framework was devised to include essential reading skills in a digital world. This report provides important insights into how 15-year-old students are developing reading skills to navigate the technology-rich 21st century.