As short-form video explodes in popularity in China, a debate is intensifying over how excessive viewing affects concentration and daily life. With accounts piling up of users feeling mentally foggy and unable to read books after long viewing sessions, some are comparing the content to an "electronic drug."
Posts describing a mental fog after watching short-form videos have drawn attention on Chinese social media, Dashang News reported on the 15th. Users say that after watching a stream of videos packed with plot twists and thrills, thoughts become hard to form and concentration slips — yet stopping proves difficult. Some users have described the phenomenon as "electronic addiction."
Viewing times are substantial. A review of the 50 apps with the most monthly online usage time in China in August showed that ByteDance-affiliated apps accounted for 41.8% of total usage time.
Hongguo Short Video, ByteDance's short-form app, averaged about 125 minutes of use per day. Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, averaged roughly 112 to 120 minutes a day. Both figures far exceed the roughly 82 to 85 minutes a day logged by WeChat, China's dominant messaging app.
Some users have posted on social media that they spent more than 10 hours of their daily smartphone time on Hongguo Short Video alone. One user wrote: "I open the app the moment I wake up in the morning and I'm still watching in the middle of the night." Another said: "I wish the app itself would introduce some kind of anti-addiction system."
"I Used to Read 60 Books a Semester" — Now Two Pages Are a Struggle
Accounts of short-form viewing interfering with reading, work and other routine activities are also mounting.
One university student spent 1,000 yuan (about 200,000 won) on an e-reader and downloaded 30 classics in an effort to break away from AI-generated short-form content. But after reading about two pages, concentration scattered and a hand reached for the phone almost unconsciously.
"I used to read 60 literary works or papers a semester, but since falling into short-form videos, reading has become hard," the student said.
Yang, an office worker, described similar difficulties. Discarded clothes and food delivery containers lie scattered around the apartment after work, but rather than tidying up, Yang lies in bed and watches short-form videos. Routine tasks keep getting put off as the videos keep playing.
"It's Not That Intelligence Has Declined" — Is Dopamine Depletion the Cause?
An expert said the mental fog that follows short-form viewing should not be read directly as a decline in intelligence.
Zhou Ying, a doctor in the clinical psychology department at Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, said the stimulating elements of short-form video prompt dopamine release, but that repeated stimulation can overload the brain. If the process continues, fatigue can mount when handling daily life, study or work.
"Feeling foggy and empty of thought is not a drop in intelligence," Zhou said. "Rather, dopamine reserves have been depleted, so it temporarily feels as though concentration and comprehension have declined."
Assessments of short-form video are divided. Some users argue that repeatedly watching short clips can erode concentration and patience, criticizing much of the content for recycling similar plots and containing logical holes.
Others counter that watching short-form video is a personal choice and therefore hard to condemn across the board, arguing that a fair number of recent productions are well made and polished.