World Psychiatry

The “online brain”: how the Internet may be changing our cognition

2019-05-06501 citationsDOI 10.1002/wps.20617

Joseph Firth · John Torous · Brendon Stubbs · Josh A. Firth · Genevieve Z. Steiner · Lee Smith · Mario Alvarez-Jimenez · John Gleeson · Davy Vancampfort · Christopher J. Armitage · Jerome Sarris

Key Takeaway

This multidisciplinary review argues that online environments can produce immediate and sustained changes in attention, memory, and social cognition, while effects vary by activity, population, and life stage.

AI-generated HIE assessment

Study Design

multidisciplinary review

title and abstract

What the Study Found

This multidisciplinary review evaluates evidence about Internet use and attention, memory, and social cognition. It concludes that digital environments can produce both immediate and sustained cognitive changes, while emphasizing that effects vary by activity, population, and life stage. The paper offers a broad synthesis and research agenda; many long-term developmental and causal questions remain unresolved.

Original paper record

Evidence Strength

Evidence strengths

Multidisciplinary evidence
Life-course research agenda

Limitations

Many included findings are correlational
Rapid technology change limits persistence

What This Does Not Prove

This record does not establish effects beyond the population, tasks, duration, and methods described by the paper. It should not be read as a universal causal claim.

HIE Interpretation

Broad synthesis of how online environments interact with attention, memory, and social cognition.

AI-generated HIE assessment · AI assessment confidence 90

Connected Claims

Contextualizes
Smartphone presence or use has a small negative average association with cognitive performance, but the effect varies substantially by domain and context.
The broader review places device effects within activity, population, and life-stage differences.
Scientific evidence strength
76
AI relationship confidence
85
Source / review level
Abstract reviewed
Human review
No human review
Provenance
codex-research-curation · initial-curation-v1
Contextualizes
Online search can inflate perceived internal understanding by blurring the boundary between accessible external information and knowledge held in memory.
The review situates metacognitive effects within broader changes to attention, memory, and social cognition.
Scientific evidence strength
74
AI relationship confidence
84
Source / review level
Abstract reviewed
Human review
No human review
Provenance
codex-research-curation · initial-curation-v1

Original Source

DOI 10.1002/wps.20617 ↗

multidisciplinary review

Evidence strengths

Related Topics

Connected Claims

Smartphone presence or use has a small negative average association with cognitive performance, but the effect varies substantially by domain and context.

Online search can inflate perceived internal understanding by blurring the boundary between accessible external information and knowledge held in memory.