5 ways to use screens to support cognitive health

The brain is a use-it-or-lose-it organ; passive screen time seems designed to make us ‘lose it.’ Largely, screen time replaces moving, but it’s also been linked to worse eating habits, lower quality sleep, and a worse ability to form deep connections.

One Stanford study found that excess sedentary screen use can negatively affect the cerebral cortex (the brain region that controls memory and decision-making). Other research shows that, for every extra hour of daily passive screen time, biological aging markers like telomere length shortening go up. 

This suggests that scrolling, TV, and other passive screen time activities contribute to faster cellular aging.

A newer version of this problem is surfacing with the rise of ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and other artificial intelligence tools. 

Concerns grew in 2025 when MIT researchers reported that students who used only ChatGPT to write an essay had lower brain engagement. The issue, they found, is that AI encourages cognitive offloading — outsourcing thinking and mental tasks. It can also erode critical thinking, which can cause ‘cognitive atrophy.’

This is not a black-and-white issue. AI can help people generate ideas, stimulate learning, and feed curiosity.

The trick, as Computational neuroscientist Vivienne Ming tells the BBC in an article titled “AI chatbots could be making you stupider,” is to practice ‘think[ing] first and us[ing] tools to challenge us later.’

In other words, we ought to practice more active screen time and challenge ourselves.

Active screen time is interacting with, or through, the screen in some capacity. It stimulates various brain regions that may support healthier aging.

Here are five simple, active, and research-backed screen habits that may support cognitive health:

Social connection may be the single most important predictor of long-term brain health, possibly more important than exercise or a healthy diet, and screens can deliver new opportunities for social engagement. Faces, voices, eye contact, and emotional responsiveness also create a more enriching and active experience for your brain.

Try this: Choose a quick 10-minute FaceTime call instead of automatically reaching for a podcast or scrolling through Facebook.

Certain types of puzzles, strategy games, and video games require adaptive thinking, reaction time, working memory, planning, attention, and decision-making, which are skills that persist in cognitively healthy adults. For instance, six weeks of cognitive speed training has been linked to a 25% lower rate of dementia diagnoses.

Try this: 30–60 minutes of adaptive, cognitively-stimulating games can have clinical brain benefits.

Learning something new is one of the clearest ways to build neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to rewire itself, adapt, and be flexible. The internet is a never-ending buffet of ideas, tutorials, and information to explore new topics and hobbies.

Try this: Watch a YouTube tutorial or take a free Coursera course — then immediately practice the skill offline. Watching lessons is one thing, but practicing the skill afterward is where the brain-building benefits emerge.

Creativity protects against mental decline because it asks the brain to experiment, get stimulated, and build new connections. People who flex this muscle regularly experience more benefits, with a BrainLat study of visual artists and gamers showing that experienced creatives and gamers have measurably younger brain ages than non-experts.

Try this: Use drawing apps, music software, writing, or design apps like Colorify instead of defaulting to passive entertainment when you need to unwind.

Searching for answers, exploring ideas, and following paper trails of curiosity (the opposite of mindlessly drifting through curated content) is intellectual stimulation that may be linked with lower risks of neurological disorders like dementia, depression, and Parkinson’s disease.

Try this: Next time you research a question, take a minute for active reflection about what you learned. A Harvard Business School study found it can boost performance 18%.

Using a screen does not necessarily age your brain, but the benefits may come when you choose to use your screen as a tool more often than you would a mental escape. So call someone. Build something. Learn something, or play. The healthiest digital habit might not be to shun technology, but to use it with intention, and to let curiosity lead the way.

Sponsored by: NOWATCH

Every health app looks the same: a daily score, a comparison to yesterday, a nudge to do more. NOWATCH works differently — tracking silently in the background and alerting you only when something matters.

Real insight lives in long-term patterns, not today's number. 

Early bird pricing: The landmark Livelong Women’s Health Summit^TM is coming to New York City this September.

AI-powered longevity: Try LIV, an AI-powered search engine, for easy, actionable science-backed insights on the hottest longevity topics.

Live in the Inner Circle: Author and women’s health advocate Rebecca Bloom guides women through navigating health care the right way, from dealing with insurance denials to coverage gaps and out-of-pocket costs. This event happening on Thursday, June 11, at 3:00 pm ET.

Blue light and sleep: Is it really wrecking your sleep, or is it something else?

We asked, you answered: Nearly half of you (44%) admitted that your scalp and hairline are sunscreen blind spots. But they're not alone—ears are staging a rebellion against SPF. One reader battling the Florida sun shares: “I live in Florida, so I am always wearing a hat outdoors, but I do forget to put sunscreen on my ears and the back of my neck.”