Research: Moderate Internet use in old age can help prevent dementia

New York University researchers have found that dementia levels are lower in people who stay active online as they get older. — dpa

NEW YORK: For all the old-timer jeremiads about how the Internet has ruined newspapers, evaporated attention spans, replaced words with callow-looking emoticons in attempts at written communication and turned into a global theatre for inane selfie-hinged narcissism, the world wide web may not be all bad.

That’s according to the Journal Of The American Geriatrics Society, which has published research by New York University doctors suggesting that moderate Internet use in old age can sustain cognitive function and help stave off dementia.