"INTERNET USE IS LINKED TO SLOWER DECLINE IN COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING:

EVIDENCE FROM THE HEALTH AND RETIREMENT STUDY"

 

Valeria Bordone and Francesco Billari

 

ABSTRACT

Over the last two decades, the digital revolution brought changes in the everyday lives of individuals across the world. While the use of digital technologies has been picked up fast by younger cohorts, also older adults have increasingly adopted it. In this study, we ask whether Internet use is linked to cognitive functioning among older adults. Using panel data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study and individual fixed-effect models controlling for activity status and self-reported health, we show that using the Internet is associated with slower declines in measures of cognitive functioning for both women and men. Additionally, we investigate the “digital divide”, by accounting for sub-groups of the population, defined by age and educational attainment.