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Time of India
3 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
Digital dementia? Study says phones, gadgets do not affect cognitive health
'Tis the era of technological advancements and digital evolution. In the 21st century, digital technology has occupied a major chunk of our lives. As the evolution of the advancement continues, generative artificial intelligence (AI), including chatbots, has become a daily companion across all generations, but more especially for young adults. Oftentimes, the younger generation is 'accused' of being too focused on their gadgets and not paying nearly enough attention to other things. However, a recent study has found, that common habit in young people may have the potential to actually keep the brain sharp in older people. What does the study say? How exactly does exposure to technology affect the aging brain? We often fiddle with this question. A recent study from the University of Texas and Baylor University offers valuable insights. Published in Nature Human Behaviour , the study found no evidence supporting the idea of 'digital dementia.' In fact, using computers, smartphones, and the internet may help people over 50 experience less cognitive decline. What is ' digital dementia '? Many have written about the possible negative effects of technology on the brain. The 'digital dementia' idea, introduced by German neuroscientist Manfred Spitzer in 2012, suggests that using digital devices too much weakens our thinking abilities. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Residential Contractors In The Philippines – What To Expect In 2025 For Repairs And Upgrades Visionary Echo Learn More Undo Three main concerns have been raised: 1. More passive screen time, which includes activities like watching TV or scrolling through social media that don't require much thought. 2. Relying on technology for tasks we used to remember, like phone numbers. 3. Becoming more easily distracted. Why is this new study important? We know that technology can impact brain development, but its effect on aging brains is less clear. The study by neuropsychologists Jared Benge and Michael Scullin looks at how technology influences older people who have seen big changes in technology throughout their lives. The researchers performed a meta-analysis, combining the results of many previous studies. They looked for studies about technology use among people over 50 and its link to cognitive decline or dementia, finding 57 studies with data from over 411,000 adults. These studies measured cognitive decline through tests or dementia diagnoses. Reduced risk of cognitive decline The study found that greater technology use was linked to a lower risk of cognitive decline. They measured odds, and an odds ratio below 1 shows a reduced risk. In this study, the overall odds ratio was 0.42, meaning higher technology use was associated with a 58% reduced risk of cognitive decline. This benefit remained even after considering other factors known to contribute to cognitive decline, such as socioeconomic status and health issues. Interestingly, the impact of technology on brain function was similar or stronger than other protective factors, such as physical activity (about a 35% risk reduction) or keeping healthy blood pressure (about a 13% risk reduction). However, more studies exist on blood pressure and physical activity. We understand better how they protect our brains. It is also simpler to measure blood pressure than to evaluate technology use. This study focused on specific technology use aspects but did not include things like brain training games. These findings are encouraging. However, we cannot yet claim that using technology directly causes better cognitive function. More research is needed to see if these findings hold true for different groups of people, especially those from low and middle-income countries, who were less represented in this study. We also need to understand why this relationship exists. But how to effectively use technology? Today, it's almost impossible to live without some form of technology. We do everything online, from paying bills to booking holidays. Instead of asking if technology is good or bad, we should consider how we use it. Activities that stimulate our brains, like reading, learning a new language, and playing music, particularly in early adulthood, can help protect our brains as we age. Engaging with technology throughout our lives might also stimulate our memory and thinking. As we learn new software or use a new smartphone, we may build what some call a 'technological reserve' that benefits our brains. Technology can keep us socially connected and help us maintain our independence longer. Rapid changes in the digital world Research shows that not all digital technology is harmful. However, our interaction with technology is changing quickly. The effects of AI on aging brains will become clearer in the future. Our past adaptations to technology suggest that it can support cognitive function, so the future may not be entirely negative. For instance, new brain-computer interfaces may help people with neurological diseases or disabilities. However, there are real downsides to technology, especially for younger users, such as poorer mental health. Future research can help us understand how to enjoy the benefits of technology while reducing its risks. Half of older adults now die with dementia: Study One step to a healthier you—join Times Health+ Yoga and feel the change
Fast Company
6 days ago
- Health
- Fast Company
Forget ‘digital dementia'—tech use may help keep older brains sharp
A new study paints a promising picture for the ways that digital technology use affects the aging brain. Published in Nature Human Behavior last month, neuroscientists at Baylor University and the University of Texas at Austin conducted a meta-analysis drawing on 57 different studies and data from more than 400,000 participants over the age of 50. A digital brain boost The new study found that across the board, the use of everyday digital technology like computers, smartphones, and the internet is associated with lower measures of cognitive decline in middle-aged and older adults. The strength of that positive association was comparable to established protective factors for dementia like reduced blood pressure, cognitively engaging hobbies, and exercise. The results contradict assumptions that long-term technology use might lead to cognitive decline in old age. 'There was no credible evidence from the longitudinal studies, or the meta-analysis as a whole, for widespread digital 'brain drain' or 'digital dementia' as a result of general, natural uses of digital technology,' coauthors Jared Benge and Michael Scullin wrote. The meta-analysis, which aggregated findings across many different pieces of research, included previous studies on digital technology use in adults older than 50 if they examined cognitive performance or dementia diagnosis as an outcome. The average participant age was 68.7 years at the beginning of the study (a third of the studies were longitudinal, collecting data over time). These participants are described as 'digital pioneers' who did not have access to technology and the internet while growing up. Within the meta-analysis, the three studies that focused on the use of social media showed findings that are more mixed, with inconsistent results for cognitive measures. The authors hypothesize that increased social media use could mean participants had less face-to-face social interaction, which is notable because in-person socializing is believed to protect the aging brain against dementia. Helping seniors stay social Beyond social media, technology use could enable a thriving social life for aging adults, who might use video calls, messaging, and email to stay in touch with loved ones—digital tools that share little in common with social media's algorithmic feeds. 'Digitally enabled social connections improve feelings of loneliness in some older adults, but they may also increase exposure to socially driven misinformation or reduce the frequency of face-to-face relationships,' the authors wrote. 'Additional work is therefore needed to understand how, when, and for whom digital social connectedness benefits well-being and cognition.' The authors also suggest that future studies should look at the same trends in lower-income countries, where a spike in dementia diagnosis is expected and access to technology is expanding rapidly. While the study's results show a robust positive trend between the use of technology and a healthy aging mind, figuring out the root cause of those positive outcomes is a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. 'For example, decreased walking speed presages cognitive decline in a host of neurodegenerative diseases, but the reverse causal direction is also present: Regular walking leads to better cognitive performance and slower rates of cognitive decline,' the authors wrote. For aging adults, it's possible that better cognition promotes technology use, even as technology use promotes better cognition. 'While the current meta-analysis showed a consistent, strong positive association between natural uses of digital technologies and overall cognitive well-being, there is no simple answer to whether technology is 'always good' or 'always bad' for the aging brain,' the authors wrote. 'It is unknown whether the current findings will hold in future decades for people who were initially exposed to digital technologies during childhood or as the types of general digital technology exposure change.'
CNN
15-04-2025
- Health
- CNN
Technology use may be associated with a lower risk for dementia, study finds
Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN's Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being. CNN — With the first generation of people exposed widely to technology now approaching old age, how has its use affected their risk of cognitive decline? That's a question researchers from two Texas universities sought to answer in a new meta-analysis study, a review of previous studies, published Monday in the journal Nature Human Behavior. The query investigates the ' digital dementia hypothesis,' which argues that lifetime use may increase reliance on technology and weaken cognitive abilities over time. 'We say a really active brain in youth and midlife is a brain that is more resilient later,' said Dr. Amit Sachdev, medical director of the department of neurology and ophthalmology at Michigan State University, who wasn't involved in the study. But the authors discovered that the digital dementia hypothesis may not bear out: Their analysis of 57 studies totaling 411,430 older adults found technology use was associated with a 42% lower risk of cognitive impairment, which was defined as a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or dementia, or as subpar performance on cognitive tests. Forms of technology included computers, smartphones, internet, email, social media or 'mixed/multiple uses,' according to the new study. 'That these effects were found in studies even when factors like education, income, and other lifestyle factors were adjusted was also encouraging: the effect doesn't seem just due to other brain health factors,' co-lead study author Dr. Jared Benge, associate professor in the department of neurology at the University of Texas at Austin's Dell Medical School, said via email. The authors searched eight databases for studies published through 2024, and the 57 chosen for their main analysis included 20 studies that followed participants for about six years on average and 37 cross-sectional studies, which measure health data and outcomes at one point in time. The adults were age 68 on average at the beginning of the studies. While technology use was generally linked with a lower risk of cognitive decline, the findings for social media use were inconsistent, the authors said. None of the 136 studies the authors reviewed overall reported an increased risk of cognitive impairment correlated with technology use — a consistency that is 'really quite rare,' said co-lead study author Dr. Michael Scullin, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University, via email. The research is 'a really well-organized and -executed meta-analysis of essentially the entire field over the last 18 years or 20 years,' said Dr. Christopher Anderson, chief of the division of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Anderson wasn't involved in the study. But if you're thinking the study's findings mean you're free to use technology to your heart's content since your brain will be fine anyway — not so fast. 'Our findings are not a blanket endorsement of mindless scrolling,' Benge, who is also a clinical neuropsychologist at UT Health Austin's Comprehensive Memory Center, said. 'They are instead a hint that the generation that gave us the internet has found ways to get some net positive benefits from these tools to the brain.' And despite the study's significance, there are still many uncertainties about the relationships between various aspects of technology use and brain health. Technology use and the brain One of the study's limitations is that it doesn't have details on how people were using technological devices, experts said. As a result, it's unclear whether participants were using computers or phones in ways that meaningfully exercised their brains, or what specific way may be most associated with cognitive protection. Lacking information on the amount of time technology was used means it's also unknown whether there is harmful threshold or if only a little time is needed for cognitive benefits, Anderson said. These questions are difficult 'to try to answer, because the sheer volume of technology exposures that we have to navigate is so high,' Sachdev said. 'To isolate one technology exposure and its effect is difficult, and to measure just a whole ecosystem of technology exposures and … their aggregate effect is also a challenge.' Additionally, 'the amount that we can extrapolate from this study towards future generations is very unclear, given the ubiquity of technology today that people are exposed to and have been exposed to from their birth,' Anderson said. 'When you think about the kind of technology that this cohort would've been interacting with earlier in their lives, it's a time when you had to really work to use technology,' Anderson added. Their brains were also already well formed, Benge said. The study may support the alternative to the digital dementia hypothesis, which is the cognitive reserve theory. The theory 'contends that exposure to complex mental activities leads to better cognitive well-being in older age,' even in the face of age-related brain changes, according to the study. That technology may reduce risk of cognitive decline by helping us be more neurologically active is possible, Sachdev said. Technology use can also foster social connection in some instances, and social isolation has been linked with greater odds of developing dementia. It's also possible that older adults who are using technology may already have more active and resilient brains, explaining their engagement with technology. Managing your technology use Inferences on best practices for technology use in consideration of cognitive health can't be drawn from the study since it didn't have specifics on participants' use habits, experts said. But 'it does support that a healthy mix of activities is likely to be the most beneficial, and that fits with other literature on the topic as well,' Anderson said. 'What this probably does more than anything else is provide some reassurance that there's no association between at least moderate use of technology and cognitive decline.' Engaging in moderation is best, Sachdev said. And that should largely bring joy, genuine connection, creativity and intellectual stimulation to your life, experts said. 'It should be productive in some way,' he added, and entertaining yourself can sometimes meet that requirement. But if you're experiencing eye or neck strain from sitting in front of a screen, that's a sign you're using technology too much. 'Too much of anything can be a bad thing,' Sachdev said. 'Identifying the purpose and the duration and then executing along those lines is how we would advise for most topics.' Some older adults have avoided technology use, thinking it's too difficult to learn. But Scullin and others have found even people with mild dementia can be trained to use such devices, he said. Though sometimes frustrating, the difficulty 'is a reflection of the mental stimulation afforded through learning the device,' Scullin added.
The Guardian
14-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Older people who use smartphones ‘have lower rates of cognitive decline'
Fears that smartphones, tablets and other devices could drive dementia in later life have been challenged by research that found lower rates of cognitive decline in older people who used the technology. An analysis of published studies that looked at technology use and mental skills in more than 400,000 older adults found that over-50s who routinely used digital devices had lower rates of cognitive decline than those who used them less. It is unclear whether the technology staves off mental decline, or whether people with better cognitive skills simply use them more, but the scientists say the findings question the claim that screen time drives what has been called 'digital dementia'. 'For the first generation that was exposed to digital tools, their use is associated with better cognitive functioning,' said Dr Jared Benge, a clinical neuropsychologist in UT Health Austin's Comprehensive Memory Center. 'This is a more hopeful message than one might expect given concerns about brain rot, brain drain, and digital dementia.' Benge and his colleague Dr Michael Scullin, a cognitive neuroscientist at Baylor University in Texas, analysed 57 published studies that examined the use of digital technology in 411,430 adults around the world. The average age was 69 years old and all had a cognitive test or diagnosis. The scientists found no evidence for the digital dementia hypothesis, which suggests that a lifetime of using digital technology drives mental decline. Rather, they found that using a computer, smartphone, the internet or some combination of these was associated with a lower risk of cognitive impairment. The details have been published in Nature Human Behaviour. More work is needed to explain the findings, but the researchers suspect a two-way relationship underpins the results. In this scenario, people with better thinking skills are more likely to use digital devices, but there are also cognitive benefits to be had from embracing the technology. 'We think the three Cs might be important: complexity, connection and compensatory behaviours,' Benge told the Guardian. Digital tools could help people engage in complex activities and boost their social connections, both of which appeared to be good for the ageing brain, he said. The technology also allowed people to compensate for cognitive decline and function more easily, for example by using GPS to find their way or setting reminders to pay bills or take medicines, he added. Writing in the journal, the authors suggested the pros and cons of smartphones and other devices on the ageing brain depended on how they were used. 'Using digital devices in the way that we use televisions – passive and sedentary, both physically and mentally – is not likely to be beneficial,' said Scullin. 'But, our computers and smartphones also can be mentally stimulating, afford social connections, and provide compensation for cognitive abilities that are declining with ageing. These latter types of uses have long been regarded as beneficial for cognitive ageing.' Prof Peter Etchells, the director of the Centre for Research on Science and Society at Bath Spa University in the UK, said: 'This is a really nice study that shows the research area is starting to mature. It's starting to move beyond the blind acceptance that screen time is something useful to talk about. It's starting to pose what the next questions should be.' Sam Gilbert, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London, said the study showed 'a clear link' between digital technology usage and preserved cognitive ability in older age. 'The explanation for this link is still not fully clear: we cannot be sure whether technology usage itself preserves cognitive ability, whether preserved cognitive ability leads to more frequent use of technology, or – most likely – some combination of the two. Nevertheless, this work challenges alarmist ideas about so-called 'digital dementia' and instead suggests that using digital technology can be good for brain health.' Dr Vincent O'Sullivan, an economist at the University of Limerick in Ireland, also welcomed the study. 'The common perception, at least among media commentators, is that technology is making us stupid or forgetful. These researchers, through meticulous analysis of a vast academic literature, show that there is a positive association between good cognitive health and digital technology usage. 'Once we understand the mechanism, we can hopefully design interventions for those at risk of cognitive decline.'
