![\"An](\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/old-phone-june25.jpg\")
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You may have heard friends or family members lament the ubiquity of technology, or bemoan that the ways it changes our interactions with the world could lead to \u201cbrain rot\u201d or something similar. (Maybe you\u2019ve even said that yourself).<\/p>\n
Dr. Michael Scullin<\/a>, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor, set out to see if such fears are warranted — and his findings have earned international attention.<\/p>\n Digital technologies may seem like they have been around forever, but the reality is that we\u2019re not even a full generation into their widespread use. As our “digital pioneers” become the first group to grow older after using digital technologies for years, they’re helping researchers answer an important question: What is the impact of technology use on brain health for those who use it regularly? Is \u201cdigital dementia\u201d really a thing?<\/p>\n Scullin partnered with colleagues at UT\u2019s Dell Medical School to find out, and the study revealed the opposite of what many might suppose: Increased technology use is actually associated with reduced<\/em> cognitive decline<\/a>.<\/p>\n The study, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior<\/em>, actually found reduced odds of cognitive impairment for those using digital technologies for everyday tasks. As individuals grapple with learning new technologies, it turns out they\u2019re doing positive things for the brain. The findings supported the concept of a \u201cdigital reserve\u201d — the idea that learning to use new technologies actually promotes increased cognition.<\/p>\n The research quickly began making waves around the world. Outlets such as the Washington Post<\/a><\/em>, BBC<\/a>, Newsweek<\/a><\/em>, CNN<\/a>, Scientific American<\/a><\/em>, The Guardian<\/a><\/em> and a host of other publications and networks both domestic and international have shared the information — info which will hopefully put many minds to ease as they adopt new technologies into old age.<\/p>\n Sic \u2019em, Dr. Scullin!<\/p>\n You may have heard friends or family members lament the ubiquity of technology, or bemoan that the ways it changes our interactions with the world could lead to \u201cbrain rot\u201d or something similar. (Maybe you\u2019ve even said that yourself). Dr. Michael Scullin, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor, set out to see […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}[Photo by Centre for Ageing Better<\/a> on Unsplash]<\/a><\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"