Byte-Sized Attention: Unraveling the Influence of Short-Form Video on Adolescents
The rise of short video platforms is affecting teens in more ways than one. Artwork: Silvia Feng and Jana Ahmed
By SILVIA FENG
With contributions from Jasmine Noel and Mikylah Voltaire
Ever felt like you’re swimming in a sea of snippets, where waves of digital presence crash faster than you can blink? Welcome to the world of short-form video, where tiny bursts of thrills are melting your brain, bit by bit.
In recent years, platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts have captured global attention. According to eMarketer, the average time spent on TikTok by young adults in the U.S. aged 18-24 has spiked from 34 minutes in 2019 to 82 minutes in 2024. (Time spent by adults also increased from 27 to 58 minutes.)
The latest studies have shown that short-form videos have been slowly destroying teenagers’ attention spans. In February, an Argus poll of over 200 Midwood students confirmed this, showing that 68% feel they “get bored or distracted easily,” 48% have a hard time staying focused when they read, and 24% struggle to sit through an entire movie.
A study from Guizhou University in China and Western Michigan University in the U.S. explained that short-form videos engage with viewers through “short bursts of thrills,” with each video carefully curated through a personalized algorithm to release a surge of dopamine, the neurotransmitter in your brain that’s associated with pleasure and reward.
“I feel like it definitely has affected me personally,” said junior Zeina Ibrahim. “When I’m watching a new movie, I get uninterested after watching just a few minutes, and I just have the urge to grab my phone.”
“My addiction to scrolling on TikTok got so bad that I had to delete it to control myself,” Jefferson Qiu ‘25 said.
These students are not alone. Others have noticed similar behavior when doing other tasks.
“Prior to downloading TikTok, I had a better attention span,” junior Raymond Chen said. “I would do my homework in one session. However, after downloading these apps, I’d end up on my phone way more than I want to.”
“It's just so addicting,” said junior Alexandra Watson. “It’s just so hard to stop scrolling. There have been times where I couldn't get off the app.”
The domino-like effect has crawled its way into classrooms, catching the attention of many teachers.
Ms. Tiffany Peat, a teacher in the science department, took notice of this behavior.
“Students want instant gratification,” she said. “It shows in their conduct in my class that they can’t focus on something for too long. They get bored easily, and often the task isn’t going as fast as they want to, leading them to go on their phones.”
“I find that students struggle when reading long texts,” said Ms. Alyssa Smith, a social studies teacher. “I don’t know if it’s TikTok per se, I just think it’s social media and kids having access to these platforms so easily.”
Deeper dives into the effects of video platforms have shown that they cause young users’ brains to experience difficulty when faced with non-digital activity that requires a long attention span.
In The Week, psychologist Michael Manos writes, “Direct attention is the ability to prevent distractions and sustain attention and to shift attention appropriately… It requires higher-order skills like planning and prioritizing.” Adolescents usually have difficulty with directed attention because their prefrontal cortexes don't fully mature until the age of 25. If their brains have been accustomed to a steady diet of rapid-fire entertainment, it’s difficult to adapt to a non-digital environment where things don’t move as fast, resulting in struggles with schoolwork and sustained reading.
“TikTok is a dopamine machine,” said pediatrician John Hutton in The Wall Street Journal. “If you want kids to start paying attention, they need to practice paying attention.”
“I think that attention spans were already ruined in quarantine during the Covid pandemic, when everybody had to go on their phones and laptops,” senior Dasha Gornyachek said. “So TikTok might’ve enhanced it, but I don’t think it was the root issue.”
If your attention span has brought you this far, there’s more news: Studies also suggest that using short video apps can lead to the decline of an adolescent’s mental health.
Research by The Center for Countering Digital Hate discovered that teen users who search for and “like” mental health-related videos are more likely to be exposed to unhealthy content about eating disorders and self harm. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram can also set unrealistic expectations, leading to an increase of loneliness and anxiety. In 2022, insider documents from Instagram showed that the company has long known how harmful its app can be for users, especially teen girls.
“I definitely think that TikTok and these other platforms romanticize depression, bipolar disorders, and all kinds of other mental illnesses,” said Maham Sajid ‘25. “I think the more people indulge in social media to try and validate and normalize their behaviors, the more harm they cause for themselves.”
“TikTok is very toxic,” Zania Hussain ‘25 said. “People [on the platform] talk about self harm, depression, body images, family problems. It's very negative, and the people who watch it feel negative, so it causes this giant negative energy around the world.”
If you’re concerned by all this but aren’t ready to give up TikTok just yet, there are other ways to make a change.
Start with simple tasks. Take small breaks when scrolling, and allow your brain to restore attention. Next, set boundaries with yourself. Limit screen time by going on walks without your phone and limiting your time on video apps.
And also, a healthy reminder: It’s important to prioritize a healthy balance between our offline lives and our digital lives.