Digital Consumption, Episodic Memory and Cognitive Ability of Middle-aged and Elderly people: Findings from CHARLS Data

Digital Consumption, Episodic Memory and Cognitive Ability of Middle-aged and Elderly people: Findings from CHARLS Data | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Digital Consumption, Episodic Memory and Cognitive Ability of Middle-aged and Elderly people: Findings from CHARLS Data Qi Wang, Yuan Dong, Qingsong Wang, Dong Sun This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7071154/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Objectives: We use data from the China Health and Elderly Tracking Survey (CHARLS) database in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2018, and 2020, as well as data from pilot cities for information consumption in China, to examine the impact of digital consumption on the cognitive abilities of middle-aged and elderly people (hereafter ‘M&E people’). Methods: We take the digital economy era and an aging population society as the research background, and use China's information consumption pilot policy as a quasi natural experiment to examine the impact of digital consumption on the cognitive abilities of M&E people using a multi-phase difference-in-differences model. Results: Our analysis shows that digital consumption has a significant negative impact on the cognitive abilities of M&E people. Furthermore, We found through mechanism testing that digital consumption can reduce the cognitive ability of M&E people by weakening episodic memory. Additionally, The impact of digital consumption on the cognitive abilities of M&E people shows heterogeneity. It has a more pronounced detrimental effect on the cognitive abilities of women, married individuals, retirees, and those with lower levels of education. Finally, we found through threshold effect testing that the adverse effects of digital consumption on the cognitive abilities of M&E people intensify with age, especially for those over 60 years old who have a significant inhibitory effect on their cognitive abilities. Conclusion: Digital consumption significantly reduces the cognitive abilities of M&E people. Two recommendations are as follows: 1) Promoting digital consumption should focus on the needs of M&E people, provide training, simplify processes, develop user-friendly interfaces, and provide clear guidance. 2) Pay attention to the psychology of M&E people, help them overcome fear, enhance confidence, and experience the advantages of digital consumption through community activities. Digital consumption Cognitive ability Middle-aged and elderly people Episodic memory Mental health Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7071154","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":501377065,"identity":"c0f5cfc2-cdc7-4db2-814e-85aabfc165f7","order_by":0,"name":"Qi Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shaanxi Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Qi","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":501377066,"identity":"b2aedbe1-208b-4b49-9cd2-a0f44a20829f","order_by":1,"name":"Yuan Dong","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shaanxi Normal 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difference-in-differences model.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults: \u003c/strong\u003eOur analysis shows that digital consumption has a significant negative impact on the cognitive abilities of M\u0026amp;E people. Furthermore, We found through mechanism testing that digital consumption can reduce the cognitive ability of M\u0026amp;E people by weakening episodic memory. Additionally, The impact of digital consumption on the cognitive abilities of M\u0026amp;E people shows heterogeneity. It has a more pronounced detrimental effect on the cognitive abilities of women, married individuals, retirees, and those with lower levels of education. Finally, we found through threshold effect testing that the adverse effects of digital consumption on the cognitive abilities of M\u0026amp;E people intensify with age, especially for those over 60 years old who have a significant inhibitory effect on their cognitive abilities.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusion: \u003c/strong\u003eDigital consumption significantly reduces the cognitive abilities of M\u0026amp;E people. Two recommendations are as follows: 1) Promoting digital consumption should focus on the needs of M\u0026amp;E people, provide training, simplify processes, develop user-friendly interfaces, and provide clear guidance. 2) Pay attention to the psychology of M\u0026amp;E people, help them overcome fear, enhance confidence, and experience the advantages of digital consumption through community activities.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Digital Consumption, Episodic Memory and Cognitive Ability of Middle-aged and Elderly people: Findings from CHARLS Data","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-08-25 09:11:50","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7071154/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"a981007b-23c8-482b-ac70-deb25c1b3f6a","owner":[],"postedDate":"August 25th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-12-11T06:39:26+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-08-25 09:11:50","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7071154","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7071154","identity":"rs-7071154","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}