There has been an alarming spike in the number of younger people being diagnosed with dementia and excessive screen time is partly to blame.
Dementia Australia says more people in their 20s and 30s are found to be suffering from dementia in recent years with the increase linked to the amount of time we spend on our devices.
The biggest jump has been in the 30 to 44 age group which seen a 400 per cent increase in recent years.
Dementia is now the leading cause of death in Australia according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics after overtaking heart disease.
More than 17,500 people in Australia died from dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, in 2024 with 95 per cent of those deaths aged 75 years and older.
Dementia Australia says our cognitive capacity is decreasing after constantly spending hours on devices, not using our brains as we used to and not connecting with people.
And with the rise in AI there is now even less reason to calculate and create.
According to scientists, it is these cognitive abilities which we’re moving away from, which decrease the chances of developing dementia.
A recent study of more than 6,000 adolescents showed those who regularly used social media performed worse with cognitive tasks than those who rarely used social media.
In Australia there are 30,000 young people living with early onset dementia with experts tipping that number to rise to more than 50,000 in the next few years.
Research shows using screens and devices excessively – smartphones, tablets and computers – can cause an imbalance in brain use.
While we’re on these devices we are underusing the right side of our brains which are used for creativity, memory and processing emotions and interactivity.
