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Title: Older People Who Use Smartphones 'Have Lower Rates of Cognitive
Decline'

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/04/16/0...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: 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. "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."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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