Scrolling Short-Form Content Does This to Your Brain

Published: July 10, 2025

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By Gavin Boyle

A new study revealed that short-form content addiction can make people more prone to worse long-term decision making as they focus on instant gratification over future success.

“Studies have found that people with high levels of short-form video addiction are less sensitive to loss and more impulsive with their decision making,” study author Qiang Wang told PsyPost. “This suggests that they may underestimate the long-term costs of swip[ing] short videos (e.g. time waste, sleep problems), and focus more on immediate pleasure.”

“While substance addictions (e.g., gambling, alcohol) consistently show reduced sensitivity to losses, how short-form video addiction alters the brain’s evaluation of ‘risk vs. loss’ was virtually unexplored. Thus, we pioneered an integration of computation modeling and neuroimaging to uncover: 1.) Whether addicts undervalue long-term costs of usage; 2.) How neural evidence accumulation speed and motor sensory networks drive such decision biases,” Wang explained.

This study is extremely important as it provides key insights for those working to help people struggling with short-form content addiction. At the same time, it helps explain why the content is so addictive as the parts of the brain that help with impulse control and moderation are ignored by the body.

People with short-video addiction show altered brain responses during decision-making

A new brain imaging study suggests that people who report symptoms of addiction to short-form video platforms—such as TikTok or Instagram Reels—may be less sensitive to financial losses and… pic.twitter.com/ehcgBkuWGU

— Professor Erwin Loh (@erwinloh) July 8, 2025

The study provides a troubling insight into the business practices of TikTok, which has stepped up its advertising business in recent years — taking advantage of users whose impulse control is lower than normal.

“We’re excited to announce the launch of the Search Ads Toggle, a new feature on TikTok Ads Manager that allows brands to serve ads in TikTok search results,” the app announced in the summer of 2023. “The Search Ads Toggle leverages advertisers’ existing In-Feed Ad creative to serve ads alongside organic search results from relevant user queries.”

Meanwhile, the lowered ability to combat impulses could also explain why disturbing content is so popular across short-form video platforms as users make the impulsive decision to indulge in graphic content they would normally have the discretion to avoid.

Additionally, the study explains why the app is so addictive for young users; since their developing brains already lack mature impulse control, short-form content harms it even more, making them even worse at wise decisions.

All in all, this study reveals why short-form content is so addicting. While we are likely years away from it receiving a true addiction label, the fact that its impact on the brain is similar to that of gambling proves that short-form content has the ability to impact the brain to a troubling level.

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