Anyone who spends a lot of time on their phone is at risk of many physical and mental health problems through short-form social media content. Since the early 2010s, social media platforms have been introducing this sort of content. It delivers rapid, consistent dopamine hits that overload your brain. Due to it, many mental & physical health issues can rise in individuals.
Short form videos work well because they are designed to be fast, entertaining, and easy to keep watching.
“Short-form videos work by giving the brain fast, frequent bursts of dopamine, the chemical that supports reward and motivation in the brain,” says Revere Health, a group out of Utah. “When the brain constantly receives these tiny rewards, habits start to form. Each swipe becomes a signal that something new and exciting might be waiting, which trains the brain to keep checking for the next hit.”
Michael, a student from Pasco High School was questioned on whether he preferred short-term or long-term content.
“I mostly use short-form content because I get distracted and forget that I’m scrolling but I do prefer long-form content,” he said, reflecting how short-form content affects someone’s life. It can be addictive, which leads to heavy use.
Students may also find that watching short term content is affecting their sleep quality.
“It does because I’m basically getting overstimulated before bed. Depending on what you watch, it can be overstimulating. On top of that there’s blue light that can affect you as well,” responded one Pasco High student.
In a study conducted by PubMed Central on short-form content, they claimed, “among students, it has been found that short-form video addiction can also lead to poor sleep quality and academic burnout.”
Sleep quality is important for maintaining both mental and physical health, it can affect your everyday life because it can leave you feeling fatigued the whole day, make you feel irritable, and gives you a hard time thinking and focusing. It heavily increases your risk of depression. According to another study from Stanford Medicine, about 90% of people that have poor sleep quality develop symptoms of depression.
To conclude, these are only a few ways short-form content can affect your day-to-day life. There is much more to it, but even just sleep quality is enough to affect your day-to-day life. The only way to prevent any issues is to limit or stop watching short-form content all together. Develop new hobbies, learn new things, and limit short-form content as much as possible!
