For a long time, intelligence scores, commonly known as the Intelligence Quotient, kept rising across generations. This trend is called the Flynn effect. But, in recent years, researchers have observed something different. Younger generations, especially Gen Z, are scoring lower than Millennials and Boomers did at the same age. Why? The reason isn’t just one, but it is a mix of changes in lifestyle, education, and environment.

Today’s children grow up surrounded by TV, mobile phones, tablets, and various kinds of screens. The constant stream of short-form content with scrolling, swiping, and multitasking trains the brain for speed but not for depth. Reading long texts, solving complex problems, or sitting with abstract ideas is becoming rare, and these are exactly the skills IQ tests measure. On top of that, Mathematics and reading proficiency have declined in many countries, pushing scores further down.

Read in Hindi: बुद्धिमत्ता की बदलती वक्ररेखा, 'जेन-जी' का इसलिए घट रहा है आईक्यू...!

Attention spans have shortened partly due to digital habits, partly due to the changing nature of education. Schools now rely more heavily on technology. Learning has become more accessible, but not as rigorous when it comes to critical thinking. Physical activity and outdoor play, both linked to cognitive development, have also decreased compared to earlier generations.

But here’s the important point. Lower IQ scores do not mean the new generation is “less intelligent”. IQ tests capture only a narrow slice of ability. Gen Z is highly fluent in digital environments, quick to adapt, and creative in ways older generations were not. They may not score as high on traditional measures, but they are building strengths in areas that those tests fail to capture.

So, this is less a story of “declining intelligence” and more about a shift in the type of intelligence being cultivated. The truth is, the world has changed dramatically, and the way minds develop has changed right along with it.