How Older People Are Reaping Brain Benefits From New Tech

Paula Span, How Older People Are Reaping Brain Benefits From New Tech, NYTimes, Aug. 10, 2025.

The lede: “Overuse of digital gadgets harms teenagers, research suggests. But ubiquitous technology may be helping older Americans stay sharp.”

Whoops!

Some neuroscientists researching the effects of technology on older adults are inclined to agree. The first cohort of seniors to have contended — not always enthusiastically — with a digital society has reached the age when cognitive impairment becomes more common.

Given decades of alarms about technology’s threats to our brains and well-being — sometimes called “digital dementia” — one might expect to start seeing negative effects.

The opposite appears true. “Among the digital pioneer generation, use of everyday digital technology has been associated with reduced risk of cognitive impairment and dementia,” said Michael Scullin, a cognitive neuroscientist at Baylor University.

It’s almost akin to hearing from a nutritionist that bacon is good for you. [...]

They found that those who used computers, smartphones, the internet or a mix did better on cognitive tests, with lower rates of cognitive impairment or dementia diagnoses, than those who avoided technology or used it less often.

“Normally, you see a lot of variability across studies,” Dr. Scullin said. But in this analysis of 57 studies involving more than 411,000 seniors, published in Nature Human Behavior, almost 90 percent of the studies found that technology had a protective cognitive effect.

Developing brains seem more vulnerable:

“There’s pretty compelling data that difficulties can emerge with attention or mental health or behavioral problems” when young people are overexposed to screens and digital devices, Dr. Scullin said.

Older adults’ brains are also malleable, but less so. And those who began grappling with technology in midlife had already learned “foundational abilities and skills,” Dr. Scullin said.

Then, to participate in a swiftly evolving society, they had to learn a whole lot more.

Social connections:

Still, digital technology may also protect brain health by fostering social connections, known to help stave off cognitive decline. Or its reminders and prompts could partially compensate for memory loss, as Dr. Scullin and Dr. Benge found in a smartphone study, while its apps help preserve functional abilities like shopping and banking.

There's more at the link.