A major review has found that heavy consumption of short-form video content is associated with poorer cognition, especially in regard to attention spans and impulse control, and also associated with poorer mental health in both young people and adults.
The study pointed to impacts on processing, positing that heavy use of short videos may mean that users become desensitised to slower tasks including reading, problem solving, and deep learning – with the possible effect of weakening the brain’s ability to sustain attention on a single task.
The review of 71 studies with a total of nearly 100,000 participants has sparked further debate on the negative effects of scrolling, and its implications for “brain rot”, a term which the Oxford Dictionary last year said reflected concerns about the impact of consuming “excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media.”
The study, from the American Psychological Association, says that “short-form video platforms such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are now a major part of daily life for many people” and that their “synthesis of 71 studies revealed that greater engagement with these platforms is associated with poorer cognitive and mental health in both youths and adults.”
Entitled “Feeds, Feelings, and Focus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Examining the Cognitive and Mental Health Correlates of Short-Form Video Use”, the researchers said “a comprehensive synthesis” was needed to clarify how the heavy consumption of short videos relates to different health indicators.
The review, which was published in the APA’s journal, Psychological Bulletin, also associated heavy consumption of shorts with increased symptoms of depression, stress, anxiety and loneliness.
Data from 98,299 participants across 71 studies was analysed, and the review found that young people now average 6.5 hours per day online.
The review noted that several studies have highlighted the negative effect of heavy short form video (SFV) use and cognition, particularly in relation to attention.
“Research indicates that higher SFV consumption is linked to poorer attention across both young and older populations. This association has also been observed at a neural level, with heavy SFV users exhibiting reduced electrophysiological (P300) activity during attention tasks compared to regular SFV users,” the researchers said.
The consumption of short form videos and the potential influence of same on the ability of the brain to processing was examined.
Repeated exposure to highly stimulating, fast-paced content “may contribute to habituation, in which users become desensitized to slower, more effortful cognitive tasks such as reading, problem solving, or deep learning.”
“This process may gradually reduce cognitive endurance and weaken the brain’s ability to sustain attention on a single task,” the review found.
“Simultaneously, SFV platforms may promote sensitization by providing immediate, algorithmically curated rewards, potentially reinforcing impulsive engagement patterns and encouraging habitual seeking of instant gratification,” it found.
“The ability to swipe to new content could support a pattern of rapid disengagement from stimuli that do not provide immediate novelty or excitement. In line with this theoretical framework, frequent SFV use may diminish attentional control and reduce the capacity for sustained cognitive engagement, as cognitive processing becomes increasingly oriented toward brief, high-reward interactions rather than extended, goal-directed tasks.”
The review said that “this habituation and sensitization effect has been hypothesized to extend to other cognitive functions and tasks requiring attention processing, including inhibitory control, memory, and reasoning,” but noted that “some studies have reported mixed findings pertaining to SFV use and cognitive performance”.
“For instance, Lin et al. (2024) found that although higher SFV consumption correlated with poorer sustained attention in a cross-sectional study, their long-term experiment showed no significant change following SFV use, contributing to mixed findings on its cognitive correlates. Furthermore, it is also unclear whether SFV use is consistently related to other cognitive processes (e.g., fluid intelligence, processing speed, visuospatial ability). Thus, a comprehensive synthesis is warranted to gain a clearer understanding of which cognitive processes SFV use may be associated with and to identify areas requiring further research.”
In regard to mental health, the study found that SFV use “has also been associated with negative mental health indicators, particularly increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness”.
“The highly engaging, algorithm-driven nature of SFV platforms is thought to encourage excessive use by stimulating the brain’s dopaminergic reward system, which may reinforce habitual engagement through instant gratification and unpredictable content rewards,” the review posited.
“The continuous cycle of swiping and receiving new, emotionally stimulating content has been proposed to trigger dopamine release, creating a reinforcement loop that contributes to patterns of habitual use and greater emotional reliance on digital interactions. This habitual engagement may be associated with heightened stress and anxiety, as some users report difficulties disengaging and regulating their emotions in offline settings.”
“Additionally, the immersive and infinite-scrolling nature of SFVs has been linked to increased social isolation by replacing real-world interactions with passive digital engagement, exacerbating feelings of loneliness.”
“Such reliance on online interactions has also been correlated with lower life satisfaction. These associations between SFV use and mental health have been reported across youths, young adults, and middle-aged adults, though some studies have reported no association between SFV use and mental health indice. Thus, further quantitative synthesis of the existing research is required to better understand the nature and consistency of these associations.”
Experts reacting to the study also said that further research was needed.
Three experts told NBC News that research into the long-term impacts of excessive short-form video use is still emerging, especially in the U.S. However, studies from researchers around the world, including the U.K., Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have also found associations between consumption of the videos and issues like attention problems, memory disruption and cognitive fatigue.
Those studies don’t establish cause and effect, though, and most so far describe only a moment in time, rather than follow subjects for a longer period.
Dr. Nidhi Gupta, a pediatric endocrinologist who researches the effects of screen time, also told NBC News that “it may take many years of further study to determine whether cognitive changes associated with short-form media consumption are reversible.”
But Keith Robert Head, a doctoral student in social work at Capella University, also told NBC that “there’s overlap between symptoms of ADHD and the risks he identified”.
“So one of the questions that would be interesting for researchers to study is: Are these ADHD diagnoses actually ADHD, or is it an impact from the continued use of short-form video?” Head said.