Why IQ scores are falling and how to protect your own

Executive overview

IQ scores worldwide began declining around 2010 after decades of steady rises. Two compounding forces explain this: decades of declining reading have degraded how our brains process information, and smartphones have separately eroded our capacity to sustain concentration.

The post-literacy and post-concentration crises compound each other — but attention is the lever you can pull now.

The evidence for declining IQ

• Multiple studies show IQ scores began falling around 2006–2012, with the sharpest inflection point near 2010
• A 2023 Northwestern study found declines across all education levels and both genders
• Only one measured intelligence — 3D spatial rotation — is still improving; all others are declining
• 18–22 year olds show the steepest drops: the heaviest smartphone users and the first generation schooled entirely with smartphones

The post-literacy hypothesis

• Reading rates have fallen steadily since the 80s and 90s; television began the shift, smartphones accelerated it
• Books force logical, dense, structured argument — a form of analytical cross-training absent from video and social media
• Neil Postman (1985): moving from a print-based to a broadcast-based culture changes not just what we consume but how we think
• Walter Ong and Eric Havelock identified the same pattern when TV became widespread in the 1960s
• The hypothesis is compelling but not consensus — researchers note the 3D spatial exception and cross-country variation

The attention hypothesis (the overlooked factor)

• Reading decline predates the 2010 inflection point by decades; smartphones explain the timing
• Hyper-palatable algorithmic content overwhelms short-term motivation circuits, degrading the ability to sustain concentration
• Post-literacy reduces brain capability; post-concentration reduces the ability to deploy whatever capability remains
• Both forces together produce a steeper decline than either alone

Four concrete actions

1. Delete apps where the business model depends on maximising your time-on-app — TikTok, Instagram, algorithmic games
2. Join the attention resistance for tools you can't quit: remove addictive features via browser plugins, never use the native app, route business use through a buffer (e.g. a shared doc a team member posts from)
3. Keep your phone in the kitchen when at home — plugged in, not on your person; within three to four days the compulsive checking impulse fades and baseline concentration recovers
4. Train your attention daily — Roosevelt dashes (timed, ultra-focused work sprints starting at 10 minutes, extended as capacity grows) and phone-free walks, optionally used for productive meditation on a specific problem

On reading

• Returning to books will gradually improve analytical processing, but the attention interventions above produce faster, more measurable results
• Relative gains matter: protecting your concentration in a population losing theirs is a compounding advantage