As the first generation to grow up with digital technology enters an age where dementia risk becomes more relevant, researchers are asking an important question: Does using digital technology increase the risk of developing dementia? Given the frequent use of terms like “brain rot” and “brain drain” on social media, it might seem that the answer is yes. However, a new study published in Nature Human Behavior suggests otherwise.

Conducted by neuroscientists at Baylor University and the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, the study found that digital technology use is actually linked to slower cognitive decline, not faster.

The research was motivated by growing public concern that passive engagement with digital devices could worsen brain health. But the analysis, led by Jared F. Benge, Ph.D., a clinical neuropsychologist at Dell Medical School and UT Health Austin’s Comprehensive Memory Center, and Michael K. Scullin, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor, offers reassuring evidence to the contrary.

“You can flip on the news on just about any day and you’ll see people talking about how technologies are harming us,” Scullin said. “People often use the terms ‘brain drain’ and ‘brain rot,’ and now digital dementia is an emerging phrase. As researchers, we wanted to know if this was true.”

The “digital dementia” hypothesis predicts that a lifetime of exposure to digital technology will worsen cognitive abilities. On the contrary, the study’s findings challenge this hypothesis, indicating instead that engagement with digital technology fosters cognitive resilience in these adults. Reviewing more than 136 studies with data that encompassed over 400,000 adults, and longitudinal studies with an average of 6 years of follow-up data, Scullin and Benge found compelling evidence that digital technology use is associated with better cognitive aging outcomes, rather than harm.

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