By Mackenzie Grizzard | Staff Writer
“Brain-rot” is Oxford University Press’s term of the year, with the use of the term increasing by 230%. With this dramatic uptick, researchers start to wonder if our brains are actually “rotting” — and if it really is because of “those dang phones.”
In conjunction with the University of Texas’s Dell Medical School, Baylor neuroscience researchers have co-authored a study into the connection of an increased risk of dementia and technology use.
Dr. Michael K. Scullin is one of the co-authors of this study, a meta-analysis of technology use and cognitive aging.
“If we look objectively at how the world has changed for someone who was born post-World War II, everything is different,” Scullin said. “Shopping, banking, the way we search for information, the way we navigate from place to place … these are just a few examples of how the digital revolution has changed our everyday lives.”
One of the pillars of this digital dementia study is the idea of cognitive resilience, which led Scullin and his team to the answer wonder if digital technologies are actually associated with reduced cognitive decline.
“We looked at a large body of data and of individuals who are amongst the digital pioneers — [which] are those who first used home computers, home internet, smartphones and so forth when they were older adults,” Scullin said.
Scullin and other researchers found that these “digital pioneers” were not at a higher risk for dementia or cognitive impairment and had better cognitive functioning in older age, contrary to their hypothesis.
“It’s a very, very strong protective effect,” Scullin said. “While there’s probably some third variables that are influencing some of these effects, … the data is far too strong and far too consistent to be only that.”
Scullin relates these findings to physical exercise as an older adult, as those suffering from dementia often have gait and balance issues, leading them to walk and move less. Despite this, many studies show that walking more often actually protects some against future risk of dementia, according to Scullin.
“It’s a classic bidirectional association, and when you look at things like dementia risk, some of the factors we know are protective are bidirectionally related,” Scullin said. “It doesn’t eliminate risk, just like technology doesn’t eliminate risk, but it changes the probability.”
The study also connects digital technology to an increase in problem-solving and social connection, which acts as important mental stimulation for those at risk for developing dementia.
“When we experience things as frustrating, there is a sign that there is a cognitive challenge in front of us,” Scullin said. “We know from many studies that that type of mental stimulation is a good thing for the brain.”
Co-authoring with Scullin is Dr. Jared Benge, associate professor with Department of Neurology at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin. Benge and and Scullin have worked on this project since 2016, and they immediately realized an opportunity to work together.
“I’ve enjoyed a 10-year-long partnership with Dr. Michael Scullin pushing these ideas forward,” Benge said in an email. “Working together has allowed us to bring state-of-the-art treatments and research to all of central Texas, and for that I’m very grateful.”
Despite this groundbreaking research, Scullin reiterates that there is no “simple answer” for the question of if technology is good or bad.
“It’s okay to have some fear and trepidation about new technologies,” Scullin said. “At the same time, we should probably not shoo away technologies that we don’t know much about.”
