TV time and memory decline appear to be linked in older people Tyler Olson / Alamy

It is normally children whose screen time comes under fire – but should we be more worried about their grandparents? The more TV that older people watch, the more their memory declines over the next few years on average.

Previous studies have found links between TV viewing and older people’s physical and mental abilities, but this is usually put down to the fact that watching TV involves sitting down, and it is unhealthy to be sedentary for long periods of time. But Daisy Fancourt of University College London wondered if there was something more going on.

Her team looked at results from a large study of 3600 people with an average age of 67 at the start, called the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Starting in 2008, participants had an array of health and cognitive tests, and answered questions about their lifestyle, then went through it again six years later.


As expected, people who sat in front of the box for longer had a bigger decline in their ability to remember words. Those who watched TV for more than 3.5 hours a day had a fall in their verbal memory of between 8 and 10 per cent, compared with a 4 to 5 per cent decline for those who saw less than that.

The correlation was still there even when the researchers adjusted the results to take account of how many hours a day people spent sitting down, as well as other factors such as how well-off people were.

The link could be because the passive nature of watching television causes mental deterioration, or because it just gets in the way of doing other things that are more stimulating, says Fancourt.

On the other hand, an alternative explanation is that people who already getting less mentally sharp can’t cope with other activities and end up slumping in front of the box. Fancourt says that is unlikely because the correlation was clearest in people who had the best memory to start with. “That strengthens our case – but we can’t be completely sure.”

Journal reference: Scientific Reports, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39354-4