In the past year, there has been a dramatic increase in the duration of content consumed from watching short videos on social media. For example, in 2021, social media app TikTok overtook YouTube in average minutes daily users spent watching videos on the app. TikTok had an average of users spending 99 minutes daily in the U.S. whilst YouTube had users spending 61 minutes daily. Compare these statistics to 2019 where YouTube had users spending an average of 63 minutes per day whilst TikTok had users spending an average of 44 minutes per day. This is astounding when you see that TikTok has only been out for over 3 years, whilst YouTube has been around for more than 15 years. So, what caused this dramatic increase in viewership on TikTok? What made users want to spend more time on TikTok? There are three answers. Attention span, COVID-19, and a clever algorithm.

The attention span of many social media users has severely decreased over the years. For example, TikTok feeds off the millions of people who are craving entertainment. As consumers, we desire to fill blank spaces in our mind with entertainment and TikTok delivers. TikTok has met consumer demand by capping videos to 15 seconds long, ensuring that content creators have to fit in enough content within those 15 seconds to keep viewers engaged, and the goal is to fit as much information in as little time as possible. Not only that, but TikTok’s algorithm makes it extremely easy for you to get sucked in for long periods of time. It is designed where the more users watch and interact with certain videos they like, TikTok will keep recommending those certain categories of videos. For me personally, I like to learn things right away, and I hate having to watch lengthy videos to understand simple concepts. This is where TikTok comes into play. TikTok’s main selling point is that they are short videos, so these videos won’t make you feel bored as easily. That, combined with a very complex algorithm, will make you addicted to the app very easily. Why would you want to watch a 10 minute fun fact video, when you can find something simpler on TikTok in less time? These 10 minute videos may feel dragged out and long, but on TikTok, you are able to put enough information in that short time to keep us engaged. Our attention span has decreased, which has had affects in the real world. We may not focus on something for more than one minute because we may become bored very easily, or we don’t feel as engaged with the content we are learning as we want to move on very quickly. It seems as if our brain is rotting, as we are not learning anything useful with TikTok, we are only learning about fun facts and it is only pure entertainment and nothing else. Attention span is not the only factor when it comes to the increase in short videos though.

Due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all been stuck at home with seemingly nothing to do. All shops have closed, the streets feel like a burden, so what is there to do anyway? Well, if you are stuck at home, you are most likely going to be endlessly scrolling on your phone for a while. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. The problem with that is we lose track of time, and while we endlessly watch these videos, what may seem like minutes may turn to hours. We have nothing else to do, right? Kids are off of school and jobs have closed temporarily. In the first few months, all schools and businesses were hastily trying to figure out a solution to get operations up and running. The rise of TikTok and short videos helped keep us occupied in the meanwhile. 2 years later, however, TikTok is still getting more recognition and users daily, and it sits within the top 10 of the Apple App Store almost everyday. Addiction is easy to get into, and you may say that you will watch TikTok for 10 minutes. After those 10 minutes, you seem to get more engaged with the content, and you don’t want to stop as you think you will miss something incredibly engaging if you don’t scroll. It’s incredibly hard to stop, and due to COVID-19, the rise of social media, and TikTok specifically have decreased our attention span.

I have been talking about TikTok for a while, but in the past year, many other companies have tried to replicate the same features as TikTok to achieve the same success as TikTok. TikTok has broken records for most downloaded app worldwide in 2022, and has the fastest growing user-base. Therefore, it is able to generate more income, and with the TikTok creator fund, creators are able to get paid on the app, making them more willing to create and spend more time on the app. YouTube introduced their YouTube Shorts feature in September 2020, and it resembles very closely with TikTok, making short videos. They have copied one of their features recently, voiceover narration, if you want to narrate a video with a pre-recorded video playing in the background. They have also recently added monetization plans for Shorts creators, making Shorts creators able to get paid on the app, which can increase motivation for making content. Instagram has also released their Instagram Reels to delve into the short video game, and Snapchat has also introduced their Snapchat Spotlight. This shows that social media companies are all trying to hop on the short video game to increase userbase and income.

With all these social media companies delving into the short video game, this creates competition and variety. Every social media app I use will now have a short video feature that can keep me addicted to the app longer than I need to be. I may stumble upon one short, and slowly become addicted by watching more. This in turn can decrease my attention span and cause harm for me in the real world, as I am not learning anything useful, and my brain is filled up with useless information instead of information I need to help me become successful in the real world. These short videos are a time waster overall, and all content shown is purely for entertainment that has no use for me in the real world. Occasionally I may learn some things here and there, but for the most part I won’t learn much that will be useful long term. For example, if I love dogs and interact with dog videos a lot, I will recommend more short videos about dogs. This can be harmful when you consider that the short video algorithm is designed to reel you in and keep you on the app as long as possible so the company can make more money. They will keep showing you videos on dogs, and you won’t learn anything, you will be purely entertained. The more short videos you watch, the more your attention span decreases and the more harmful effects will show in the real world. Overall, there are a lot of problems when it comes to consuming short videos, and we tend to overlook them because we love them so much. Maybe it is time to reconsider the content we consume when it comes to short videos, and if it will really help us in the long term.