Mobile Phones? Really?
May 2, 2025
No AI, just the dinobaby himself.
I read one of those “modern” scientific summaries in the UK newspaper, The Guardian. Yep, that’s a begging for dollars outfit which reminds me that I have read eight stories since January 1, 2025. I am impressed with the publisher’s cookie wizardry. Too bad it does not include the other systems I use in the course of my day.
The article which caught my attention and sort of annoyed me is “Older People Who Use Smartphones Have Lower Rates of Cognitive Decline.” I haven’t been in school since I abandoned my PhD to join Halliburton Nuclear in Washington, DC in the early 1970s. I don’t remember much of my undergraduate work, including classes about setting up “scientific studies” or avoiding causation problems.
I do know that I am 80 years old and that smartphones are not the center of my information world. Am I, therefore, in cognitive decline? I suppose you should ask those who will be in my OSINT lecture this coming Friday (April 18, 2025) or those hearing my upcoming talks at a US government cyber fraud conference. My hunch is that whether the people listening to me think I am best suited for drooling in an old age home or some weird nut job fooling people is best accomplished by some research that involves sample selection, objective and interview data, and benchmarking.
The Guardian article skips right to the reason I am able to walk and chew gum at the same time without requiring [a] dentures, [b] a walker, [c] an oxygen tank, or [d] a mobile smartphone.
But, no, the write up says:
Fears that smartphones, tablets and other devices could drive dementia in later life have been challenged by research that found lower rates of cognitive decline in older people who used the technology. An analysis of published studies that looked at technology use and mental skills in more than 400,000 older adults found that over-50s who routinely used digital devices had lower rates of cognitive decline than those who used them less.
Okay, why use one smartphone. Buy two. Go whole hog. Install TOR and cruise the Dark Web and figure out why Ahmia.fi is filtering results. Download apps by the dozens and use them to get mental stimulation. I highly recommend Hamster Kombat, Act 2. Plus, one must log on to Facebook — the hot spot for seniors to check out grandchildren and keep up with obituaries — and immerse oneself in mental stimulation.
The write up says:
It is unclear whether the technology staves off mental decline, or whether people with better cognitive skills simply use them more, but the scientists say the findings question the claim that screen time drives what has been called “digital dementia”.
That’s slick. Digital dementia.
My thoughts about this wishy washy correlation are:
- Some “scientists” are struggling to get noticed for their research and grab smartphones and data to establish that these technological gems keep one’s mind sharp. Yeah, meh!
- A “major real news” outfit writes up the “research” illustrates a bit of what I call “information stretching.” Like spandex tights, making the “facts” convert a blob into an acceptable shape has replaced actual mental work
- The mental decline thing tells me more about the researchers and the Guardian’s editorial approach.
My view is that engagement with people, devices, and ideas trump the mobile phone angle. People who face physical deterioration are going to demonstrate assorted declines. If the phone helps some people, great.
I am just tired of the efforts to explain the upsides and downsides of mobile devices. These gizmos are part of the datasphere in which people live. Put a person in solitary confinement with sound deadening technology and that individual will suffer some quite sporty declines. A rich and stimulating environment is more important than a gizmo with Telegram or WhatsApp. Maybe an old timer will become the next crypto currency trading tsar?
Net net: Those undergraduate classes in statistics, psychology, and logic might be relevant, particularly to those who became thumb typing and fast scrollers at a young age. I am a dinobaby and maybe you will attend one of my lectures. Then you can tell me that I do what I do because I have a smartphone. Actually I have four. That’s why the Guardian’s view count is wrong about how often I look at the outfit’s articles.
Stephen E Arnold, May 2, 2025
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