Digital Dementia

Digital dementia is a term first coined by the neuroscientist Manfred Spitzer in his 2012 book. It
was a term used to describe how overuse of digital technology relates to the breakdown of your
cognitive abilities.

An article published in Psychology Today about digital overuse explores neuroscientist Spitzer’s
proposal that “short-term memory pathways will start to deteriorate from underuse if we overuse
technology.” The negative cognitive effects of using too much technology include increased
rates of ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, developmental delay, anxiety, learning disorders, and
sleep disorders. But the consequences don’t stop there.

The article discusses a study of video gamers and non-video gamers that found a link between
heavy video game use and a reduction of grey matter in the hippocampus, the part of the brain
related to our spatial cognition.

“Although this proposal requires further investigation, previous research has shown that
reduced grey matter in the hippocampus is associated with an increased risk for schizophrenia,
post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and dementia, amongst other disorders.”

Negative Effects on the Brain

According to Kimberly Young, PhD, there are substantial negative brain changes that are related
to excessive time spent on the internet. These negative changes are associated with excessive
dopamine stimulation via the brain’s reward and pleasure centers.

In the brain, dopamine functions as a neurotransmitter—a chemical released by neurons (nerve

cells) to send signals to other nerve cells. The brain includes several distinct dopamine pathways,
one of which plays a major role in reward-motivated behavior.

Cocaine, opiates and methamphetamines utilize the same dopamine functions in the brain as does
the over-stimulation from technology. Longer term, could this pave a foundation for other issues
we'll wish we avoided? Only time and further study can tell.

Tips
Maintain a life without overusing technology nowadays may be impossible. However, there
are precautionary measures that may help counter contributing factors of digital dementia.
Consider the five below.

1. Ideally, we should use digital devices for no more than 3 hours per day. Admittedly, this
is a challenge for many people nowadays who are required to spend the whole day at
work on a computer. Instead of aiming for this for every day, start by selecting one day to
achieve this goal, like Saturday or Sunday.
 2. Take regular breaks to get up and move around. This will help your brain rest and create
gaps between your prolonged usage.
3. It is important to maintain a normal posture when on your digital screens, especially
when on them for prolonged periods of time. Looking down at the device changes the
resting state of the brain, which is associated with the decreased levels of alertness.
4. Do more physical exercise to improve your brain’s sharpness. In return, your memory
and cognitive functions, including that of your children, will see an improvement.
5. Shut down your WiFi modem and router before sleeping. There is no reason to have the
radiation continuously reaching you when you’re not even using the device!

‘Dementia’ is a term sadly all too familiar these days, as instances soar of Alzheimer’s disease
and other comparable conditions all characterized by confusion, disorientation, and impaired
memory—literally a ‘loss of mind.’ However, the notion that an analogous state might be linked
to the screen lifestyle is as controversial as it is potentially troubling.

“Digital Dementia” is a term coined by neuroscientist Manfred Spitzer to describe an overuse of

digital technology resulting in the breakdown of cognitive abilities.1 Spitzer proposes that short-
term memory pathways will start to deteriorate from underuse if we overuse technology.
Although, in this blog, we have recently explored outsourcing your memory to smartphones,
these two concepts are different—the mental disarray within the brain implied by the term
‘dementia’ is far more basic and complete. An under-practiced memory process is far from being
comparable to the wider cognitive devastation that is dementia.

Perhaps a potentially more informative line of enquiry would be to explore the wider ways in
which the screen lifestyle could induce states analogous to dementia. For example, new research
has found a potential link between action video gaming and the potential increased risk for
developing psychological disorders, including dementia.2 Researchers set out to investigate how
action video gamers and non-video gamers navigated a virtual maze, using one of two potential
strategies. The spatial strategy involves remembering the location of various landmarks within
the environment and mentally building a map of these locations and their position relative to
each other.3 Establishing relationships between landmarks allows for flexibility when navigating
the world, as you are able to orientate yourself within your mental map. This particular strategy
relies on a familiar area of the brain long associated with spatial memory: the hippocampus.

The response strategy, by contrast, entails learning the series of movements that follow from a
set position, such as a certain pattern of left and right turns after seeing a particular landmark.
Whereas the spatial strategy enables you to determine a direct path to any location, the response
strategy is rigid in this regard as it relies on a series of movements triggered specifically by
certain locations, and presses into service a different area of the brain, the striatum.3 The
researchers found that video gamers were more likely to navigate the virtual maze using the
response strategy.
Perhaps the exaggerated involvement of the striatum shouldn’t come as a surprise. We know that
action video gaming is linked with greater brain volume in the striatum,4 but this may be at the
expense of a reduction in hippocampal volume.2 Although this proposal requires further
investigation, previous research has shown that reduced grey matter in the hippocampus is
associated with an increased risk for schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression
and dementia, amongst other disorders.

Perhaps the crucial question then is whether rigid yet efficient ‘response strategies,’ or the more
flexible ability to make connections, are more important for the optimal cognitive tool kit—and
indeed whether such a simple dichotomy can indeed encapsulate the impairments embraced by
the single term ‘dementia.’