In plain sight, a common phrase. Yet, that is all it takes to feed your short-form media addiction. 

Short-form media first became popular with the app Vine, where 6 second videos were created and played on loop, back in 2013. Today, Tik Tok, officially landing in the US in 2018 and popularized during the pandemic, is the most popular platform for short-form media. Tik Tok has “one of the most advanced algorithm systems and is the most addictive as compared to other social media platforms” (Qin 1). Unlike other platforms, the goal of the app is not to connect people, but to be entertaining instead. This format of video has become so popular and successful that other platforms started creating similar layouts on their apps, like instagram reels and Youtube short. These short, less than a mintie videos have introduced a new form of addiction: short-form media addiction. 

Yes, I agree that scrolling on these platforms can be a form of relaxation, much like watching a movie is. However, we, as consumers of short-form media, often spend hours a day doom scrolling away on short-form media platforms, like Tik Tok. In 2023, “about 14% of American adults said they regularly got news on TikTok, compared with just 3% percent in 2020” (Maheshwari 1). However, very few understand the impact of short-form media addiction. 

Short-form media addiction poses a serious health risk to both our mental and physical health. A study conducted in 2023 on how short-form media affects undergraduates showed that this addiction can cause “poor vision, decreased physical fitness, and possibly chronic diseases and other disorders” as physical health problems and “emotion regulation problems, reduced feelings of well-being, and even problematic behaviors such as suicide” as mental health problems (Xie 1). Since watching these videos requires the user to constantly have interactions with the platform, users are forced to solely and constantly stare at their screen. In order to truly comprehend the information, the user is forced to eliminate any distractions, like interaction with others, because every second counts. The study also found that students were more likely to procrastinate on their academics in order to fulfill their desire to watch short-form media, causing them to be in a cycle of bad habits. 

Another damaging impact on people caused by short media is that people's attention spans have dramatically decreased over the years. According to Dr. Gloria Mark, in 2004, the average attention span of a person was about two and half minutes. However, in recent years, the average attention span of a person is 47 seconds (Mark 1). With content being consumed at a faster rate and in larger amounts, people are not forced to focus for long periods of time anymore. You can easily understand the world around you by watching short videos. Each video is a new topic, offering a greater understanding in less than a minute. But at the same time, it is the satisfaction and thrill at this speed that has made us unwitting participants of society’s polarizing experiment with modern media. 

But will this cycle ever end? 

The gateway to short-form media addiction: boredom. When you start scrolling on your phone, it is often because you are bored or unentertained. Or you are trying to avoid completing or continuing a task, like the undergraduates in the study. Instead of ending this cycle of constant scrolling, you drag it along until the content consumes you, without realization, and ultimately you fall into a trap. Think about the dance battle trend: people fake punching each other to beat a song while debating a topic, like whether you should do your homework or play with a younger sibling.