It's bad and seemingly getting worse. And while the headline tries to 'other' these kids, it's not just them. It's Americans in general that are declining:

The news of Gen Z’s waning literacy comes along with a substantial decline in literary acumen among Americans more broadly. Over the last 20 years, for example, the amount of adults reading recreationally in the US has fallen by 40 percent. Meanwhile, a survey of the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) found that 59 million Americans are reading at a level one competency or below — the lowest level on the PIAAC’s five-point scale.

Reminds me of a similar article from a couple years ago on this same topic: https://slate.com/human-interest/2024/02/literacy-crisis-reading-comprehension-college.html

The professor that wrote that goes on to mention how even among himself and his colleagues, attention and focus is far from the norm any more:

Even as a career academic who studies the Quran in Arabic for fun, I have noticed my reading endurance flagging. I once found myself boasting at a faculty meeting that I had read through my entire hourlong train ride without looking at my phone. My colleagues agreed this was a major feat, one they had not achieved recently. Even if I rarely attain that high level of focus, though, I am able to “turn it on” when demanded, for instance to plow through a big novel during a holiday break.