April 30, 2025
While some people have expressed concerns that reliance on digital technology may be dumbing us down, a new analysis offers hope. It found that older adults who used smartphones, tablets and other digital devices had lower rates of cognitive decline than their peers who shunned such technology.
“Far from causing ‘digital dementia,’ as some feared, we found technology engagement is consistently linked to better brain health, even after accounting for education, income and physical health,” said study co-author Jared Benge, a clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Texas at Austin.
For the analysis, he and his colleague Michael Scullin, a cognitive neuroscientist at Baylor University in Texas, pooled data from 57 studies that looked at the use of digital technology. The studies involved more than 411,430 adults 50 and older from around the world. Only studies that assessed cognitive abilities, like thinking and memory skills or dementia diagnoses, were included. The average age of all participants was 69.
The researchers found that older adults who routinely used a smartphone, computer, tablet, the internet or some combination of digital devices had lower rates of declines in thinking and memory skills over time than those who generally avoided such technology. Brain benefits were observed in both a younger group, aged 50- to 65-years old, and in those older than 65.
The study showed only an association and cannot prove cause and effect. It’s possible that older adults who regularly use technology are in better cognitive health overall. But the study population was large, and the researchers controlled for various factors that might affect brain health, including years of formal education, socioeconomic status, general health, and engagement with mentally stimulating activities like reading books. They found that overall, use of digital technology correlated with a 42 percent lower risk of cognitive impairment. The findings were published in the journal Nature Human Behavior.
More research is needed to better understand why use of digital technology may benefit brain health, but the researchers suspect that several mechanisms may play a role.
Browsing the internet and using computers and smartphones can be mentally stimulating, challenging users to embrace new information and expand their knowledge. Actively engaging with social media and responding to emails also allows users to stay socially connected with friends and family. Earlier studies have shown that cognitively challenging work and activities as well as social connections are critical for maintaining brain health as we age and may help to lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
However, scrolling mindlessly on digital devices in a passive way — the way we often watch television while slumped on a couch — is not likely to be beneficial for brain health, the researchers warn.
Digital technologies also offer helpful assistance for the aging brain. The use of calendar reminders, for example, can help people to take their medicines regularly or to remember a doctor’s appointment. GPS systems can provide useful directions and help people avoid getting lost.
Older adults should be encouraged to use digital devices, the authors say. Even those in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease can learn to use new technologies, the authors note. The learning curve may be steep, but the benefits can pay off.
By ALZinfo.org, The Alzheimer’s Information Site. Reviewed by Eric Schmidt, PhD, of The Fisher Center lab at The Rockefeller University.
Source: Jared F. Benge, Michael K. Scullin: “A meta-analysis of technology use and cognitive aging.” Nature Human Behavior, April 14, 2025
