{"id":9811,"date":"2025-11-26T18:16:41","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T14:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/?p=9811"},"modified":"2025-11-26T18:22:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T14:22:55","slug":"apa-research-watching-short-video-content-seriously-harms-mental-health-and-cognitive-abilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/apa-research-watching-short-video-content-seriously-harms-mental-health-and-cognitive-abilities\/","title":{"rendered":"APA research: Watching short video content seriously harms mental health and cognitive abilities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"1\">According to the latest research by the American Psychological Association (APA), the internet term <b>&#8220;Brain Rot&#8221;<\/b> is not merely a meme, but a real neurocognitive syndrome that causes measurable harm to mental health and cognitive abilities.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"2\">The APA&#8217;s systematic review and meta-analysis, titled <b>&#8220;Feeds, Feelings, and Focus,&#8221;<\/b> established a direct link between the excessive consumption of algorithm-based <b>Short-Form Video (SFV) content<\/b> (such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts) and the deterioration of cognitive functions.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">Scientists analyzed data from 71 studies involving a total of 98,299 people and found a clear correlation:<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\"><b>The more short videos a person watches, the worse their cognitive skills become, particularly in the areas of attention concentration and inhibitory control<\/b> (the ability to suppress undesirable behaviors or thoughts).<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">It was found that young people spend an average of <b>6.5 hours a day<\/b> in the online space, indicating the massive scale of this problem.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\">The study suggests that repeated exposure to highly stimulating, fast-changing content promotes <b>Habituation<\/b>. This means users become accustomed to the high speed and become desensitized to slower tasks that require more mental effort, such as reading, problem-solving, or in-depth learning.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">This habituation stimulates the reward system in the brain, which reinforces the consumption cycle and ultimately leads to:<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"8\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8,0,0\"><b>Social isolation.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8,1,0\"><b>Reduced life satisfaction.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8,2,0\"><b>Lowered self-esteem.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8,3,0\"><b>Worsened sleep patterns, increased anxiety, and loneliness.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"9\">The researchers emphasize that excessive exposure to short videos has a tangible impact on how our brain functions. The more low-quality content we watch, the weaker our ability to concentrate becomes, which negatively affects mental health and critical thinking.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\">According to experts, these findings lay a crucial foundation for future research and for steering public discussions on this challenge.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/fulltext\/2026-89350-001.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">APA<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to the latest research by the American Psychological Association (APA), the internet term &#8220;Brain Rot&#8221; is not merely a meme, but a real neurocognitive syndrome that causes measurable harm to mental health and cognitive abilities. The APA&#8217;s systematic review and meta-analysis, titled &#8220;Feeds, Feelings, and Focus,&#8221; established a direct link between the excessive consumption [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1631,1594,1645,1587,1657,1659],"tags":[3153],"class_list":["post-9811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-neurology","category-news","category-psychiatry","category-research","category-science","category-technologies","tag-watching-short-video-content"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9815,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9811\/revisions\/9815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}