{"id":555769,"date":"2026-03-21T22:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T22:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/555769\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T22:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T22:32:10","slug":"digital-dementia-fears-explored-in-new-brain-health-report-on-60-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/555769\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital dementia fears explored in new brain health report on 60 MINUTES"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Coming up on tonight\u2019s episode of 60 Minutes, Adam Hegarty examines growing concerns around digital dementia and the impact of screen time on brain health.<\/p>\n<p>The episode then shifts to Amelia Adams\u2019 rare Canberra interview with China\u2019s ambassador to Australia as global tensions continue to rise.<\/p>\n<p>BRAIN DRAIN<\/p>\n<p>Anyone who loves whiling away the hours surfing the internet, scrolling through social media or playing computer games on their mobile phones and tablets needs to pause and take serious note. <\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Advertisement &#8211;<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Instead of providing entertainment, or even a way to simply pass the time, there now seems to be proof that screen time is making people less intelligent. <\/p>\n<p>As Adam Hegarty reports, the evidence is frightening, especially when it comes to teenagers\u2019 use of smart phones and other devices. <\/p>\n<p>Medical scans show significant shrinking of their brains, similar to what researchers find in elderly people with Alzheimer\u2019s disease. <\/p>\n<p>And so worrying is the increasing prevalence of this condition, it has been given a name: Digital dementia.<\/p>\n<p>Reported by Adam Hegarty, produced by Laura Sparkes.<\/p>\n<p>THEIR MAN IN CANBERRA<\/p>\n<p>With the Middle East on fire, the entire world is in crisis. Every country is feeling the heat of economic and military uncertainty. <\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Advertisement &#8211;<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Superpower China finds itself in a particularly delicate situation. It\u2019s one of Iran\u2019s strategic partners, yet knows that actively supporting the Tehran regime is a fraught proposition. <\/p>\n<p>On the upside for China though, the war could be an opportunity too good to ignore; the chance, while attention is focused elsewhere, for Beijing to take Taiwan and rule the Indo-Pacific. <\/p>\n<p>With much to discuss, China\u2019s man in Canberra, Ambassador Xiao Qian invited Amelia Adams to the embassy for a rare, and at times robust, interview.<\/p>\n<p>Reported by Amelia Adams, produced by Anne Worthington and Sheree Gibson.<\/p>\n<p>This episode of 60 Minutes airs tonight, Sunday March 22 at 8.30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Advertisement &#8211;<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coming up on tonight\u2019s episode of 60 Minutes, Adam Hegarty examines growing concerns around digital dementia and the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10942,67710,108302,64,63,67711,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-555769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-60-minutes","9":"tag-adam-hegarty","10":"tag-amelia-adams","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-channel-9","14":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}