Every generation eventually reaches the same conclusion: “Kids these days are doomed.” Before that, it was comic books. Then TV. Then video games. Now it’s TikTok, smartphones, and AI stealing everyone’s brain cells.
So… is Gen Z actually getting dumber?
The idea comes from the Reverse Flynn Effect: the surprising trend showing that IQ scores, after rising steadily for decades, have begun to level off or even decline in many developed countries. Add to that falling scores in literacy, numeracy, memory, and attention, and it certainly sounds alarming.
But the reality is far more nuanced.
While younger generations may struggle more with sustained focus and deep reading, thanks in part to endless scrolling and bite-sized content, they also excel in areas that traditional IQ tests weren’t designed to measure. Research suggests Gen Z performs better on visual and spatial reasoning tasks, processes digital information more efficiently, and has stronger technological and media literacy than previous generations.
In other words, they aren’t becoming less intelligent, their brains are adapting to a world that’s radically different from the one previous generations grew up in.
The discussion also looks at how better nutrition, healthcare, and education helped fuel decades of rising IQ scores, why that trend may now be reversing, and whether smartphones, social media, and AI are reshaping how all of us think, learn, and remember.
Maybe Gen Z isn’t getting dumber after all, they’re just running a different operating system.