Human intelligence scores are falling for the first time in the United States, research suggests, and experts warn that technology could be to blame.
IQ exams were first introduced in 1905, and throughout the century they increased by 30 points based on scores in logic, vocabulary, spatial reasoning, and visual and math problem solving.
The average IQ in the United States currently stands at 98, and until last year it was 100, but rankings vary by about eight points between states, with New Hampshire ranking first with an IQ average of 103.2.
More research needs to be done to determine why IQ scores are falling across the country, but one expert has speculated that declining reading and increases in media entertainment, like YouTube, are the cause.
There is also concern that phones are degrading our memory and recall because there is less need to store information with Google at our fingertips.
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Exactly half of U.S. states have an average IQ of 100 or higher, with New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Vermont ranking in the top four, while North Dakota and Wyoming tie for fifth place.
Meanwhile, countries ranked in the bottom five include New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Nevada, according to the World Population Review.
“I suspect that increased use of technology could play a role in impacting our country’s overall literacy levels,” said Dr. Stefan Dombrowski, a psychology professor at Rider University who studies IQ , at DailyMail.com.
“It’s well known that people who read and write more generally perform better on IQ tests – of course, it’s the chicken and egg scenario,” he continued.
“Are these individuals engaging in reading and writing activities more frequently because they are smarter, or are they getting smarter…on IQ tests because they are reading more?”
Dombrowski said this second issue is known as the “Matthew effect,” in which a good reader will choose to continue reading more and therefore become more educated, while poor readers will fall behind.
Researchers have also suggested that American IQ began to decline around the turn of the millennium as people adopted more technology into their daily lives, which has only increased in recent years.
“People just don’t engage in reading as much as they used to,” Dombrowski said.
“They have YouTube and other media sources to access information, and those same media are now a source of entertainment, whereas in the past, books and other acts of literacy, like writing, played a more important entertainment role.”
The Flynn Effect is the notion that IQ scores increase over time, as noted above.
Hetty Roessingh, professor emeritus of education at the University of Calgary, previously told DailyMail.com that children as young as five are not meeting academic standards because digital devices have become so accessible.
“There is a certain level of academic underachievement, where students are underprepared for college,” Roessingh said.
She added that digital devices act as an “academic time displacement,” meaning that the time children spend with technology takes away time that could be better spent on activities that increase their intelligence levels.
According to Dombrowski, the increase in IQ during the 1900s may have occurred because education, health care, and nutrition in the United States were improving at that time and caused what is called “l Flynn effect.
The Flynn effect means that even if IQ test scores had increased by about five points per decade, if the same person were to take an intelligence test today, they would probably score about 15 points lower.
Children who scored on the “gifted” scale 30 years ago would not have the same classification by today’s standards, while those who scored in the lower range might score in the range of intellectual disabilities in 2024,” Dombrowski said.
The average level a person should reach intellectually is 100, and in comparison, someone with an IQ between 115 and 130 is considered “gifted”, while anyone with an IQ between 130 and 145 is called genius.
But Dombrowski said IQ tests aren’t necessarily indicative of a person’s true level of intelligence, because they only take into account career and academic success.
Tests should also focus on emotional IQ levels, which “may be an even more important component,” he said, adding that it “often leads to success in life.”
Higher IQ levels are generally correlated with happiness and some literature indicates that smarter people are also happier, but Dombrowski pointed out that this is not always the case.
“There are exceptions,” he said. “Highly gifted people tend to have mental health problems. Think about the main character in the movie “A Beautiful Mind,” who was an eminent mathematician but struggled with schizophrenia.
“Also think of the late Robin Williams, a comedic genius but who suffered from bipolar disorder.
“In fact,” he adds, “distinguished donations seem to have a price. »
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