According to Open4business, Generation Z could be the first generation in many decades to score lower on certain cognitive ability tests than their predecessors. This is indicated by research in the US and Europe, international educational tests and data on the so-called Flynn effect reversal.
The debate has reignited following the publication by the popular science website RathBiotaClan of an article entitled ‘Is Gen Z The First Generation Less Intelligent Than Their Parents?’. Its author, Shibasis Rath, compiled research indicating a decline in scores across specific metrics—mathematical and verbal reasoning, concentration, memory and problem-solving.
One of the catalysts for the article’s publication was the hearing held by the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on 15 January 2026. Jared Kuni Horvath, a neurobiologist and education specialist, presented data to the senators showing that over the past two decades, a number of developed countries have seen stagnation or a decline in literacy levels, mathematical skills, attention spans and the ability to engage in complex reasoning.
For most of the 20th century, intelligence test scores improved consistently from one generation to the next. This phenomenon became known as the Flynn effect. This growth was linked to improvements in nutrition and healthcare, greater access to education, smaller family sizes and the increasing complexity of the environments in which people grow up and work.
However, in some developed countries, this process first slowed down and then reversed.
One of the best-known studies was carried out by the Norwegian researchers Bernt Bratsberg and Ole Røgeberg. In an article published in the *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences* in 2018, they used data on military conscription and administrative registers spanning several decades. By comparing brothers within the same families, the authors concluded that both the earlier rise and the subsequent decline in performance were largely linked to changes in the environment, rather than to genetic changes within the population.
In July 2026, Bratsberg and his colleagues published a new study in PNAS based on data from 579,379 Norwegian men born between 1967 and 1991. It showed that the expansion of secondary education may have masked a more general downward trend in cognitive test scores for a time. Once the growth in educational attainment slowed, the decline became more pronounced across various social groups.
American data yield a similar, albeit more complex, result.
Researchers at Northwestern University analysed the results of 394,378 Americans who took online tests as part of the SAPA project between 2006 and 2018. Scores on verbal reasoning, matrix tasks and number sequences deteriorated over time. Spatial reasoning, by contrast, improved.
This is precisely why one of the study’s authors, Elizabeth Dvorak, cautioned against claiming that Americans are simply ‘getting stupider’. According to her, changes in test results do not necessarily indicate a corresponding change in general intellectual ability. They may reflect changes in skills, motivation, education or the ability to perform a specific type of test task.
This is a fundamentally important caveat when assessing Generation Z as well. Today’s young people may perform less well on some types of cognitive tasks whilst performing better on others – for example, when processing visual information or using digital tools.
Another major source of data is the OECD’s PISA programme, which assesses the knowledge and ability to apply that knowledge among 15-year-old school pupils.
Between PISA 2018 and PISA 2022, the average score in mathematics across OECD countries fell by a record 15 points, and in reading by 10 points. Meanwhile, results in science remained largely unchanged. The OECD emphasises that the decline in reading results began even before the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is not possible to attribute the entire trend solely to school closures in 2020–2021.
At the same time, the OECD itself does not attribute the problem solely to smartphones or computers. The organisation notes that there are numerous reasons for the decline in educational outcomes, and that the skilful use of digital technologies by teachers can, on the contrary, contribute to the development of digital literacy and the ability to critically evaluate information.
This is where the most controversial part of the debate begins.
Horvat attributes the decline in certain indicators to the rapid uptake of laptops, tablets and other digital devices in the education sector. In his written testimony to the Senate, he argues that excessive screen-based learning can impair concentration, the depth of information processing and memory, particularly if digital technology simply replaces traditional teaching without offering a better pedagogical approach.
However, based on the available data, it cannot be concluded that smartphones are the sole or even the proven primary cause of the Flynn effect.