The sensation in social media, such as Tik Tok and its variants, Instagram’s Reels and YouTube’s Shorts, have captured the minds of the young generation. These short videos are extremely addicting, often captivating the viewers to scroll on the app for hours and hours. Although seemingly harmless, the short form contents have more detrimental effects than most perceive.
The Methodology
The concept of random reinforcement in behavioral psychology explains the addictive nature of short-form content.
Reinforcement works when consequence (also known as response, and stimulus) is followed by a behavior. When a behavior is rewarded with the right consequence, then the frequency of that behavior will increase. In other words, desired consequence reinforces behavior.
Of the reinforcement schedules that determine the rate of response, random reinforcement holds the highest rate. In random reinforcement, behavior is reinforced after an unpredictable number of consequences, creating high and steady rates of response. The unpredictability creates stronger anticipation for the desired consequence, enhancing the frequency of the behavior.
Substituting the short videos into random reinforcement works like this: (1) We scroll through our media platform (behavior) until (2) we encounter a funny video and laugh (consequence) and (3) continue to scroll through 5, 10 more videos to reach more desired result (enhanced behavior).
But why exactly do we want to reach that desired result? There are two factors. First is dopamine, the brain’s pleasure chemical. When we encounter a funny video, our reward system is hit, creating instant dopamine release. We feel a euphoric sensation spreading throughout the brain. Now, motivated to reach more dopamine release, we continue to scroll.
There’s also another factor, anticipation. Take drug use for instance. Addicts say it’s not necessarily the dopamine hit that is pleasurable, but the anticipation for the hit that propels the craving. Gambling works the same way. The more you pull the slot and win, the faster and eager you are to pull the slot again in anticipation of a potential reward.
Implication
Aside from the hours of precious time spent on a 6-inch screen, short-form contents carry other grave implications.
The biggest ramification is shortened attention span. According to Microsoft Canada, our average attention span has already decreased from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2020, making it shorter than the goldfish’s 9 seconds. Social media has been criticized as the biggest culprit of this decline. The constant notification and influx of information divide our attention, and on top of that, these new 15 to 30 second short videos go further to exacerbate the phenomenon.
Decreased attention span means that we need more cognitive effort for sustained concentration. Because we gravitate towards immediate rewards, activities that require deep and prolonged engagement easily elude us. As a result, shortened attention span leads to reduced executive function (the cognitive ability to think and remember), erosion of persistence, poor performance in school, and inability to complete daily tasks.
This is particularly alarming given that the main user base of short-form content is adolescents. Exposure to addictive content at a young age may hamper cognitive development and induce long-term consequences. Specifically, the impairment of adolescent executive functions erodes cognitive skills such as working memory, adaptive thinking, self-control, and time management.
As a 21-year-old who spends an excessive amount of time on Instagram, I have first-hand experience with this phenomenon. The months of scrolling through Reels for an easy laugh led to an apparent diminishing of my attention span. I now find sustained concentration extremely difficult to achieve, and hence, reading books and writing essays have become a draconian task compared to the past.
Wrapping Up
Digital media have undoubtedly altered the cognitive processes of people today. Apps like Tik Tok and Instagram dominate Gen Z culture with their 15-second videos and raise concerns for developmental consequences they may cause. Future research needs to be done to determine the exact effects of short-form media content on cognitive development in youth. Yet for the time being, it surely would be wise to put a restriction on screen time.
Zieeun Ka
K-UNIV Reporter
