Summary
From a family lunch to an unexpectedly lost evening, the author explores repeated scrolling through behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic perspectives, then reflects on ways to change phone habits.
At a glance
Short videos can reinforce repeated scrolling through temporary stress relief, pleasure, personalized recommendations, and social recognition. Some videos may also leave stories unfinished or invite enjoyable connections between clips. The article discusses broader phone dependence alongside short-video use and suggests noticing scrolling habits, mindfulness, exercise, uninstalling apps, or voluntary usage limits when uninstalling is not possible.
Take a Break from Short Videos—Let's Have a Chat
At lunch one day, my dad was still watching short videos on Kuaishou, with the sound playing aloud. As I listened, I gave the family my rundown of his favorite categories: - Alarmist news, complete with equally alarmist music. - Rural romance stories—apparently part of his duty as a northeastern Chinese man. Everyone agreed that I had him down perfectly.
But it isn't just my parents. I sometimes get drawn in, too. I don't even have a dedicated short-video app, yet I'll occasionally open a clip on another social platform “by accident” and find it hard to leave: a white cat running across grassland, a border collie snuggling on its owner's lap, a rabbit eating grass filmed from the grass's point of view. Eventually, it turns into a horror story: I keep scrolling, and suddenly it's dark outside.
Why Are Short Videos So Hard to Stop Watching? Let Them Explain
“I Keep Reinforcing Your Behavior”: The Behavioral Perspective
The psychologist B. F. Skinner placed a hungry mouse in a specially constructed box. At first, it wandered around aimlessly. After a few accidental encounters with a lever caused food to drop into the box, the mouse learned to press the lever to get food. The food was the reinforcer: it strengthened the lever-pressing behavior.
Does that remind you of anything? Short videos offer a quick, straightforward way to relieve stress. For a while, we can wave goodbye to our worries and enjoy ourselves. In this comparison, scrolling is our way of pressing the lever. We keep reaching for another video, and the relief and pleasure keep reinforcing the behavior.
If you enjoy watching attractive women and men, for example, the platform will recommend more transformation clips, makeup videos, and outfit videos. As it keeps delivering intense bursts of pleasure, you keep scrolling in search of stimulation that is stronger, lasts longer, and draws you in further. The cycle reinforces itself until stopping feels almost impossible.
“I Make a Lasting Impression”: The Cognitive Perspective
People generally need only 15–20 seconds to form a short-term memory of something—roughly the length of a short video.
Some videos may also tap into the Zeigarnik effect: unfinished matters tend to stay in our minds more strongly than completed ones. A short video may cut off before a piece of music finishes or before a story or plot fully unfolds. That abrupt ending leaves us wanting more, and the sense of incompleteness can make the material especially memorable.
Another possibility is the montage effect. Fragments arranged in a creatively discovered sequence can prompt viewers to connect what they see with their own experiences and engage their artistic imagination. Recognizing the same joke across different videos, or seeing creators you follow come together in an unexpected collaboration, may produce this effect. The particular delight of making those connections can be hard to explain to anyone else.
“I Can Meet Your Higher Needs”: The Humanistic Perspective
Maslow's hierarchy of needs identifies five levels: 1. Physiological needs 2. Safety needs 3. Love and belonging needs 4. Esteem needs 5. Self-actualization needs
Once lower-level needs such as food, basic living necessities, and safety are met, people seek further fulfillment through belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. Short videos can satisfy these higher needs to some extent.
Online anonymity and the ability to interact without being present at the same time give us room to shape how we present ourselves. Even ordinary users can publish something that others notice and pay attention to. Likes and comments can also offer a sense of belonging: someone supports us, recognizes us, or shares our perspective. These responses reinforce our use of short-video platforms and can contribute to dependence and addiction.
What Happens When We Watch Too Much?
When short-video viewing becomes excessive, the discussion broadens to smartphone overuse and phone addiction. What harm can those wider patterns of use do?
Disrupted Sleep
“I'll scroll a little longer, then go to sleep.” But does a little more scrolling really help you get to sleep? No—that promise can easily fall apart. Research has found that using a smartphone before bed can both delay sleep and alter its structure: deep sleep makes up a smaller proportion, light sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep take up disproportionately large shares that may exceed standard proportions, and periods of deep sleep become less continuous.
Greater Vulnerability to Anxiety and Depression
Spending too much time on your phone can sometimes leave you feeling out of step with the world. Why does everyone else's life look so enjoyable? How are they all so talented? Why is everyone else so funny? More scrolling does not necessarily mean more happiness.
Research involving adolescents suggests that more frequent phone use makes them more susceptible to its adverse effects, which may in turn contribute to psychological problems such as stress, anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and even suicidal tendencies.
Strained Relationships
Do social situations make you anxious? When they do, do you reach for your phone to ease the awkwardness? Using a phone can provide some relief in the moment, but phone addiction can also make social anxiety worse. People with phone addiction experience interpersonal difficulties, including greater trouble recognizing facial expressions of happiness, sadness, and anger. Addiction can also impair awareness of their own and other people's emotions and feelings, further aggravating social anxiety.
Losing the Ability to Stay Focused
When did you last sit through an entire class without checking your phone? When did you last spend time reading deeply? When did you last watch a whole film with your full attention? Attending a class, reading deeply, watching a film, and writing a paper all require sustained attention. Short-video use can undermine that ability.
The attention-distraction hypothesis offers one explanation. Adolescents who frequently watch short videos spend extended periods attending to information from different sources. According to this hypothesis, that pattern makes them more susceptible to irrelevant distractions when they need to process relevant information during tasks requiring sustained attention. Over time, their capacity to sustain attention may suffer, and distraction can become a habit even when a task calls for concentration.
Research has also reported a significant positive correlation between excessive short-video use among adolescents and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Want to Change? How Can You Use Your Phone More Healthily?
To address excessive short-video use, it helps to name the broader problem more precisely: phone dependence. Paying conscious attention to your scrolling behavior or following mindfulness exercises online can help reduce that dependence. Then there is the familiar recommendation to exercise. It may be advice you've heard many times, but exercise offers a remedy that costs nothing.
For me, the most effective approach is blunt and simple: uninstall the apps. If uninstalling isn't an option, you could try setting app usage limits—entirely by choice, of course.
Lately, I've been silencing my phone and leaving it somewhere out of sight. I feel much more at peace. How about you?
Frequently asked questions
How does the article connect short videos with Maslow's hierarchy of needs?
The article lists physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. It suggests that once lower needs are met, short-video platforms can satisfy higher needs to some extent through self-presentation, attention, recognition, and belonging.
What does the article suggest if uninstalling apps is not possible?
If uninstalling isn't an option, you could try setting app usage limits—entirely by choice, of course.
Does the article establish that short videos cause ADHD?
The article reports a significant positive correlation between excessive short-video use among adolescents and ADHD. This is an association in adolescents, rather than proof that short videos cause ADHD.
