Thai Seniors Encouraged to Embrace Technology as New Study Finds Lower Risk of Cognitive Decline
A sweeping international study published in Nature Human Behavior has found that using digital technology — from smartphones to computers — is linked with a dramatically reduced risk of cognitive decline among older adults, challenging widespread fears about ‘digital dementia’. For Thailand’s increasingly tech-savvy aging population, this research offers an optimistic perspective on how digital engagement may help preserve brain health well into later life.
The study, summarised in a recent Washington Post report, analysed 57 research projects from around the globe, involving more than 411,000 adults with an average age of 69. Its key finding: middle-aged and senior individuals who frequently use digital devices were 58% less likely to experience cognitive impairment than their peers who shunned technology. Contrary to long-standing concerns about the negative effects of constant screen time, the authors concluded there was “no credible evidence … for widespread digital ‘brain drain’ or ‘digital dementia’ as a result of general, natural uses of digital technology.”