JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The effects of smartphone use on mental health and brain function in adolescents have received much attention, however, the effects on older adults have received little. As more and more older adults begin to use smartphones, it is imperative to explore the effects of non-addictive smartphone use on mental health, cognitive function, and brain function in older adults.

Objective:

To explore the relationship between non-addictive smartphone use and cognition and brain function among the elderly.

Methods:

We conducted an investigation targeting all older adults aged 60 years and above in a village in China. The participants were divided into two groups according to whether they used smartphones or not, and the participants were randomly selected from both groups for fMRI scanning. The analysis then compared differences in depression, anxiety, insomnia, cognitive function and brain function between the two groups.

Results:

Among all 1015 older adults, 641 reported using smartphones while 373 reported never using smartphones. Older adults who use smartphones exhibited better cognitive function compared with those who never use smartphones (Z = 3.806, P < .001), especially in the domains of fluency (Z = 3.025, P = .002) and abstraction (Z = 5.311, P < .001). But there were no significant differences in levels of depression (Z = 0.689, P = .49), anxiety (Z = 0.934, P = .35) and insomnia (Z = 0.340, P = .73). In terms of the MRI findings, a total of 130 participants completed fMRI scanning, including 89 who use smartphones and 41 who never use smartphones, and results showed that older adults who were smartphone users exhibited higher degree centrality values in the left parahippocampal gyrus.

Conclusions:

Here we showed that appropriate use of smartphones can help improve cognitive function in the elderly.