In Case You Haven't Heard…

With the first generation of people exposed widely to technology now approaching older age, how has technology use affected their risk of cognitive decline?, CNN Health reported April 14. Researchers at two Texas universities sought to answer that question in a new meta‐analysis study, which is a review of previous studies, published last week 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 was not involved in the 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 study 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 measured health data and outcomes at one point in time. The adults studied 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 concluded.