# Are Teenagers Getting Dumber?

An episode of [The David McWilliams Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1462649946), 1 Oct 2026, 40 min.

Audio: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast/e/6abd322bfa77186cebf17a34/media.mp3

15-year-olds across the OECD are now testing at levels last seen among 14-year-olds a decade ago, we've lost a full year of cognitive ability in ten years. One in five teenagers in the rich world would struggle to read their own phone bill. We dig into why: screens, AI shortcuts, the death of patient reading, and a "snowflake-isation" of education that's swapped hard exams for soft assessment. Ireland's own numbers aren't pretty either, with reading and maths both sliding since 2015. Is this really decline, or have we simply hit a natural ceiling on middle-class intelligence, meaning the real gains left are among poorer kids? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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