Anedoctal evidence.
Source: My own grandmother (80yo in 2019)
I have observed in my grandmother that she displays markedly lower cognitive decline when compared to her peers (friends and family around the same age).
Here are some (maybe biased) observations.
In the early 80s (at 40+yo) my grandmother was working as a secretary in a small office and went through the change from mechanical typewriters to electronic ones. While she was doing this the majority of her friends where 100% house wives.
In the early 90s(at 50+yo) my grandmother learned to use a T9 mobile phone by herself. Her friends didn't have a mobile phone for years, and even myself would only have a mobile phone much later than her. (in fact i remember her teaching me how to navigate a Nokia that she gave me when she upgraded)
In the early 2000's (at 60+yo) my grandmother bought a Windows XP PC, learned how to use it from scratch (had never used a computer in her life) and started to browse the internet, write emails, copy photos from digital cameras on to the computer etc. At the same time, her friends had no clue how to use a computer.
In the 2010's my grandmother quickly transitioned to iPad to browse the web / iPhone to keep up with grandchildren on social media. Her friends would only come to have a smartphone and join the social media revolution in the mid 2010s.
Your comment started with the phrase "anecdotal evidence". Anecdotal evidence for what?
Note: I think no one is minding the unscientific nature of your anecdote. I just don't understand what point the anecdote is supposed to underline. Your grandma likes technology and therefore she likes technology? Or something?
It is pretty clear the evidence, although one should call it an observation, is that brain stimulation through change, challenging and active learning activities kept an individual's cognitive abilities higher than peers who have gone through less brain stimulations.
It's sharing this observation, not very scientific as it would need larger samples and better controlled environment but it's an interesting anecdote. Many of us perhaps see the same trend.
I think it's pretty clear that not stimulating your brain lead to drop of cognitive abilities. Parallels are made between a trainned muscle and a trainned brain. We teach kids to memorise poems to stimulate their memory. We forget about stimulation as we grow older, we tend to retire and accept the status quo that there is the active career and some day we quit and no one expect anything to be done as retired folks.
I find my own cognitive abilities dropping after a few months of slope into brain laziness. I find my cognitive speed and performance increased after a few months of rather intense focus on multiple challenging projects. I also find myself unable to perform at high cognitive levels, drop of concentration if I've been on a burn up for months without much brain rest and relaxing time. Again perhaps a good parallel with how muscles performance works.
Anecdotes are interesting, as they help see trends when in correlation with other anecdotes. I rarely hear stories about the opposite phenomenon.
Some tiny percent of the population can smoke and drink non-stop, never exercise, eat shit constantly, and die by getting hit by a bus while jogging at 02:30.
Still not real helpful for us who didn’t win the genetic lottery.
I have observed in my grandmother that she displays markedly lower cognitive decline when compared to her peers (friends and family around the same age).
Here are some (maybe biased) observations.
In the early 80s (at 40+yo) my grandmother was working as a secretary in a small office and went through the change from mechanical typewriters to electronic ones. While she was doing this the majority of her friends where 100% house wives.
In the early 90s(at 50+yo) my grandmother learned to use a T9 mobile phone by herself. Her friends didn't have a mobile phone for years, and even myself would only have a mobile phone much later than her. (in fact i remember her teaching me how to navigate a Nokia that she gave me when she upgraded)
In the early 2000's (at 60+yo) my grandmother bought a Windows XP PC, learned how to use it from scratch (had never used a computer in her life) and started to browse the internet, write emails, copy photos from digital cameras on to the computer etc. At the same time, her friends had no clue how to use a computer.
In the 2010's my grandmother quickly transitioned to iPad to browse the web / iPhone to keep up with grandchildren on social media. Her friends would only come to have a smartphone and join the social media revolution in the mid 2010s.