iPad? More like IPRESERVE.
A new study found that older adults who quickly take advantage, move and arise through smartphones, computers and other digital devices are less likely to suffer cognitive impairment.
Research throws doubts about the so -called “digital dementia hypothesis”, suggesting that too much screen time in our daily lives could accelerate mental decline as we age.
The findings arrive at a time when the elderly Americans are more connected than ever.
In a 2024 survey, the PEW Research Center found that huge 90% of American adults over 65 are online.
But it is not just about navigating the web. AARP’s Tech 2025 trends report shows that 91% of older adults have a smartphone, 78% have intelligent television and 62% use tablets.
For meta -analysis, the researchers examined 57 studies, which involved more than 400,000 older adults around the world, to investigate the effects of technology on the brain.
The participants, with an average of approximately 69 years, had tasks of cognitive or bone tests diagnosed with cognitive impairment or mild dementia.
The researchers found that the regular use of digital devices and the Internet was associated with a 42% lower risk of cognitive impairment compared to those who used technology less frequently.
“For the first generation that was exhibited to digital tools, its use is associated with a better cognitive functioning,” Dr. Ired Bege, clinical neuropsychologist at the UT Health Austin’s Integral Memory Center, told The Guardian.
“This is a more hopeful message than one could expect conerns about brain rot, brain drainage and digital dementia,” he continued.
But I can’t divert those screen time limits yet.
“Our findings are not a white backup of meaningless displacement,” Bege told CNN. “They are adjusting a clue that the generation that cools on the Internet has found ways to obtain some positive benefits of these tools to the brain.”
This idea can support the “theory of cognitive reserve”, suggesting that participating with technology could provide cognitive benefits.
However, more research is needed to completely understand the connection. For example, scientists are not still sure whether the use of Helf technology helps prevent mental deterioration, or if people with better cognitive skills are simply more inclined to use digital devices.
There were also some gaps in the investigation. On the one hand, the study does not specify how long older adults spend using their devices.
Experts who are not involved with the analysis told CNN that this raises questions about whether it is a harmful threshold when it comes to the screen time.
In addition, the study does not explore how older people are using real technology, which could affect the way it affects their cognitive health.
“Using digital devices in the way we use televisions, liabilities and sedentary, both physical and mental, is likely to be beneficial,” Dr. Michael Scullin told The Guardian, a cognitive neuroscientist from the University of Baylor in Texas.
“But, our computers and smartphones can also be mentally stimulating, pay social connections and provide compensation for the cognitive skills that are decreasing with aging.”
The study also focuses on the first generation to interact with digital tools, but does not address complete how future generations, which have grown with technology, will be affected.
“When you think of the child of technology that this cohort would like to interact in the legs before in their lives, it is a time when he had to come to use technology,” Dr. Ir. Christopher Anderson, a neurologist involved in the study, he told CNN.
His brains were also well formed, Bege added.
Even so, Anderson said the findings suggest that a balanced approach for activities is the most beneficial.
“What this probably does more than anything else is to provide some assurance that there is no association between at least the use of technology and cognitive deterioration,” he said.