In an opinion column published across digital platforms including independent.co.uk, Lydia Spencer-Elliott argues that heavy consumption of short-form social media significantly degrades cognitive functions such as memory, attention, and verbal reasoning. Writing about her personal experiment with a media diet, Spencer-Elliott reports that scaling back time spent on TikTok and Instagram improved her cognitive test scores and halved her screen time.
Cognitive Decline Triggers Media Diet Experiment
The essay details a growing alarm regarding modern digital habits after the author failed to recall the author of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby despite holding a first-class degree in English literature from a Russell Group institution. Struggling with memory gaps and constant distraction from algorithmic content such as AI fruit telenovelas and viral ASMR videos, Spencer-Elliott underwent the Great British Intelligence Test, created by researchers at Imperial College London. The baseline assessment revealed that while her attention and verbal comprehension sat in the top 20 per cent for her age group of 30, her short-term and medium-term memory languished in the bottom 30 per cent.
Rather than attempting complete abstinence from her phone, Spencer-Elliott instituted a media diet modeled after nutritional guidelines. Drawing on health organization recommendations that limit saturated fat to 10 per cent of daily calories, she capped her social media use at 36 minutes per day—allotting 16 minutes to Instagram and 20 minutes to TikTok. Alongside these restrictions, she replaced background chat shows with current affairs podcasts like Today in Focus and increased her book consumption to two titles per week.
Test Results Show Measurable Improvements After Thirty Days
Re-evaluating her cognitive performance through the Great British Intelligence Test after 30 days, Spencer-Elliott found marked improvements across multiple neurological measures. Her medium-term memory jumped from the bottom 30 per cent to just above average, while her verbal reasoning climbed from below average into the top 20 per cent. Additionally, her spatial working memory rose from the bottom 30 per cent to the top 40 per cent, though her short-term memory remained in the bottom 30 per cent.
The diet also triggered an accidental reduction in device usage. Without any specific intent to spend less time on her phone overall, her daily screen time halved to three hours as the appeal of endless scrolling faded.