Belevie. Beleve. Beli. Believe. Autocorrect will take over before the backspace is even pressed. The tool has taken over the keyboard, with red and blue underlines correcting mistakes before anyone can fully process them. 

For senior Grace Zheng, such technology has complicated her relationship with writing.

“I feel like my spelling has gotten a lot worse because I’m so used to autocorrect, and I find it more difficult to remember certain words when I want to use them,” Zheng said.

Zheng’s concerns are not surprising. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reported in 2023 that reading scores have dropped by 10 points on average, the equivalent of half a year of learning. Education analyst Irene Hu described the fall in student performance as “unprecedented in (the survey’s) history.” In a rapidly developing era of technology, there is a significant link with literacy. This begs the question: Is technology improving or worsening literacy? 

 The Good and the Bad of Writing

According to the Atlantic, in a survey of more than 2,000 people, a third of respondents could not spell the word definitely, and two-thirds could not spell the word separate. 

English teacher Emily Bell agreed, said she’s seen those issues firsthand in her classes.

“In general, I’ve noticed the commonly misspelled words are more commonly being misspelled. I taught apostrophes and capitalization for the first time in several years because students simply aren’t adding those,” Bell said. “I think, possibly, part of that is auto-correct: your phone will add the capitalization and the apostrophe for you. So they don’t even necessarily think about where those kinds of things go. A lot of students’ spelling, in general, has gone downhill.”

Zheng also said using slang can create limitations when writing formally.

“I will say that when I write formally, it can be difficult because I want to express an idea that’s easy to get with slang, but I don’t know how to say it without being casual,” Zheng said. 

Bell said students also struggle to spell words due to a lack of confidence.

“Spelling, being able to recognize spelling patterns, being able to spell things phonetically (are things) students don’t have a lot of confidence in their ability to spell things, so they will ask me more frequently rather than try to figure it out, which seems seems like they they haven’t had the experience of having to figure out how something is spelled because of technology. It’s definitely increased (in the past years),” Bell said. 

But despite the challenges, Zheng said there are some ways she uses technology as a positive tool for her academics.  

“I think (technology) has made me more independent. When I can’t figure out a problem, there are always many YouTube videos that explain something similar, so I don’t have to bother my parents or my teachers,” Zheng said. “I also think it makes it easier for self-study or research into a topic, though it’s normally specific to what someone is researching so it’s less likely for someone to be forced into a broad perspective.”

For her part, sophomore Ella Fisher said technology has improved her writing through various proofreading tools and exposure to new language in media. 

“I’ve been immersed with more words and I have easier access to fix my grammar mistakes. It is really helpful to be able to easily check something, and redo something with technology, especially when the computer just does my grammar for me,” Fisher said. “I think through technology I’ve gotten a lot better with my spelling and word use because the media has influenced me more. Especially with hearing and seeing things online, I can see how words are used, and then I can apply it to my life.”

Reading Affected

According to a survey from the National Literacy Trust, in 2024, only 34.6% of 8-18-year-olds report that they enjoy reading in their free time. This proportion is the lowest recorded by the charity in the 19 years they have surveyed children about their reading habits, and indicated an 8.9% drop from 2023. 

Fisher said social media distracts people from mindful activities, fueling this trend. 

“I think that since teens have been so influenced by social media and technology and attention span rates have gone down tremendously, people are now so quick with everything,” Fisher said. “No one pays attention to content anymore, just really thinking about (the information they consume).”

Bell said she has noticed a trend in students’ stamina to read and comprehend longer paragraphs. 

“I would more chalk it up to a lack of stamina to read a longer passage and understand it. I think students don’t have a problem understanding shorter passages. So if we do a close analysis, they have no problem there, but if I give them something longer, they don’t always have the stamina to concentrate on a longer passage,” Bell said. “(For example), something that takes 30 minutes to read, they might not have the patience or stamina. So, therefore, they understand maybe a little bit of it, and then they stop paying attention.” 

Fisher said technology can also be used as a tool to enhance the reading process. 

“I read on a Kindle, so having access to Libby and audiobooks (have) been a game changer for me,” Fisher said. “I think technology gives more direction on things I can read, and also seeing other people’s opinions on the books I read.”

The Rise of AI

A study conducted by the Digital Education Council found that 86% of students globally regularly use artificial intelligence (AI) to complete their schoolwork. For students, these numbers indicate the increasing application of AI software—websites like DeepSeek or ChatGPT—as tools for learning. 

Zheng also acknowledged the negatives to using digital tools like AI. 

“I really don’t enjoy using AI because of certain moral/environmental concerns, as well as I feel like I don’t learn as efficiently with it,” Zheng said.

Fisher said increasing regular use of AI by students has limited creativity and students’ abilities to foster their own ideas. 

“A lot of people find what their beliefs are from other people saying what their beliefs are,” Fisher said. “If there wasn’t that influence, specifically to do with school, more people would be able to apply themselves if (it) wasn’t for the easy access of ChatGPT.”

Bell said students turn toward AI due to a lack of time from schoolwork.

“I think the amount of extracurriculars and the amount of homework expectations at (this school) restricts a lot of students from being able to engage in reading at maybe the level that they’d like to,” Bell said. 

Bell said AI is becoming more frequent and suggests AI policies should be implemented.

“Yeah, we just talked about it actually this morning in our English department meeting,” Bell said. “Something that we’ve been focusing on this year is how to integrate AI and how to use AI with our students (acceptably). The way I’m seeing it used right now is generally what I would consider unacceptable. I have had several students submit essays that were entirely generated by AI. I hear students talking about using AI with their friends and in other classes all the time.”

Zheng said AI is the most appealing solution for students in the face of challenging homework. 

“I think AI appeals to students just because it’s easy,” Zheng said. “And a lot of students view homework as pointless anyway, so why not use whatever tools are there to help?” 

Overall, Zheng said she is still trying to adjust to the developing technology.

“To be honest, I still haven’t adjusted to all the technology,” Zheng said. “I prefer paper and pencil over typing. I think eventually I’ll have to give in to all the technology. I think that it’s just a tool and it should be up to people how they want to use it. I think it gives people options on how they want to approach schoolwork or just any issue really.”