The association between personal technology use and cognition: Does use matter?
Daniel A. Harris MPH*, Kali S. Thomas PhD, Gary Epstein-Lubow MD, Eric Jutkowitz PhD
Full text PDF 
( Download count: 442)
AbstractBackground: Population-based assessments of the association between personal technology use and cognitive performance have shown positive effects among seniors. However, prior cognitive function, which predicts future technology use, is seldom considered as a potential confounder in previous cross-sectional studies.
Objective: Estimate the association between two measures of personal technology use (emailing/texting and computer internet use for administrative tasks) and cognitive performance among a population-based sample of older adults, while adjusting for prior cognitive function.
Methods: Data were obtained from the 2016 and 2017 National Health and Aging Trends Study. Among 3,695 older adults, we measured the association between emailing/texting and computer internet use for administrative tasks and delayed and immediate word recall, and clock draw score. Survey-weighted multivariable linear regression estimated these relationships before and after adjusting for demographic factors, socioeconomic factors, physical and mental health, and prior cognitive function.
Results: Participants who never emailed/texted remembered 0.39 (95%CL=-0.54, -0.24) fewer words for delayed word recall, 0.49 (95%CL=-0.64, -0.35) fewer words for immediate word recall, and had 0.19 (95%CL =-0.29, -0.09) lower clock draw scores compared to participants who emailed/texted most days. Participants without computer access remembered 0.28 (95%CL=-0.47, -0.08) fewer words for delayed word recall and 0.44 (95%CL=-0.58, -0.30) fewer words for immediate word recall compared to users of 4 or more Internet functions.
Conclusion: We found significant differences in delayed and immediate word recall, and clock draw scores between the highest and lowest users of emailing/texting. Greater internet use was significantly associated with higher delayed and immediate recall scores compared to participants without computer access.Keywords: Cognition, memory, text messaging, electronic mail, cell phone
Daniel A. Harris MPH*, Kali S. Thomas PhD, Gary Epstein-Lubow MD, Eric Jutkowitz PhD (2020). The association between personal technology use and cognition: Does use matter?. Gerontechnology, 19(3), 1-9
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2020.19.003.01