I don’t think this is new. I once encountered on an online political debate forum a guy who was constantly misspelling things and couldn’t (wouldn’t?) understand metaphors, hyperbole, or analogies. Someone would use a word like “proliferate” and he would assume it meant “pro-life.”

He revealed later he had graduated with a degree in English after topics around literature came up. This was over a decade ago and Spark’s Notes helped many people scoot by. Not surprising colleges are becoming diploma mills since so many of them always have been.