Forget Prevagen, Sudoku, and Crossword Puzzles
Are you suffering from “tech-induced overwhelm”? Do you sometimes experience “digital anxiety” to the point where a younger family member diagnoses you with “technophobia”? Are the “digital natives” in your life excluding you from certain online communications because you don’t respond succinctly in their “digital language”? You must be 50 or older.
Why so many older people struggle with technology—even though many own, on average, at least seven devices, from smartphones to computers to Apple watches—is a hot topic in medical research.
AARP publishes a yearly “Tech Trends” report, which since 2023 has cited fear of making mistakes—“I’m afraid I’ll click the wrong button and everything will disappear”—as the top psychological barrier to technology adoption among adults 50 and over.
For tech users who like to know why they need a new skill before they start to learn it, devices that update automatically, interfaces that shift, and new features that appear without explanation, leave them flummoxed and discouraged.
A digital native would correctly point out to that perplexed individual that “it doesn’t matter why” or “there doesn’t have to be a reason.” Put another way, as a recent New York Times technology columnist described it, the rapid pace of change in the personal technology world is like “learning a new language every few months.” Contemplative study it’s not.
However, instead of focusing on the chaotic nature of tech that competes for a user’s screen attention with things like icons, menus, notifications, pop-ups, and password resets, the most innovative neuroscience research is now focusing on the positive benefits of tech mastery on the adult brain.
Unlike children and teenagers, whose brains are still developing and whose mental and physical health can assuredly be harmed by too much time on the internet and social media, engagement with digital technology appears to help maintain cognitive resilience in adults.
It’s the constant relearning and forced mental adaptation of everyday technology use that preserves brain power, according to an April 2025 meta-analysis in “Technology Use and Cognitive Aging” published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
Authors Jared Benge, a neuropsychologist at the University of Texas, Austin, and Michael Scullin, a cognitive neuroscientist at Baylor University, analyzed more than 136 published studies of over 400,000 seniors, focusing on the correlation between technology use and cognitive and dementia diagnoses.
Their study revealed digital technology use correlates with a 58% lower risk of cognitive impairment. The findings were controlled for socioeconomic status, education, age, gender, baseline cognitive ability, social support, overall health, and engagement with mental activities like reading that might have otherwise affected the findings. Their work encompassed longitudinal studies with an average of six years of follow-up data.
As Scullin said in an interview with the New York Times, these devices “represent complex new challenges. If you don’t give up on them, if you push through the frustration, you’re engaging in the same challenges that studies have shown to be cognitively beneficial.”
After decades of being warned about “brain rot” and doomscrolling, this new take on technology for seniors is akin to “hearing from a nutritionist that bacon is good for you,” as the Times reporter observed.
Forestalling or stopping the onset of dementia may still not be enough motivation for tech-averse seniors to overcome the fear and embarrassment of being a digital immigrant.
ConsumerAffairs, a news website, spoke to over 1,000 people over age 45 about their ability to adapt to and use new technology in 2024.
Computers were named the most overwhelming form of technology for Gen Xers and baby boomers, followed by Instagram. Even just having to use QR codes at restaurants “induced anxiety for 22% of those surveyed.”
But, if you heed the advice of researchers, don’t ask the one waitress in the restaurant for help! Figure it out yourself and it will be easier the next time. Your brain will thank you as you actively but quietly defy the aging stereotype.
