DETROIT – There are concerns that social media platforms that stream seemingly endless short video clips could have an impact on cognitive brain development in young people.
Not social media use in general, but short-form videos in a feed that delivers interesting, funny content in 15-60 seconds.
Some experts are speculating that young people who binge-watch this type of content find it harder to participate in activities that don’t offer instant gratification.
Some early studies suggest it could be changing young people’s attention spans.
10-year-old twins Dylan and Daniel Basil love being outdoors and are forever competing with each other. They also share a love for watching YouTube Shorts.
“I don’t have to stay on one video, I can keep on going until I find something that I can watch and I can just repeat the process,” Dylan said.
“It’s like you’re always thinking about what’s next,” Daniel said. “Or you’re always thinking about the video just watched and it’s like, on going and on going.”
If this is your first time learning about YouTube Shorts, you aren’t alone. The entertaining snippets of video are all the rage lately with children and young adults.
Darra Basil and her husband are careful about the twins’ internet usage but explained how easy it was for the boys to get hooked.
“They don’t have their own Instagram or TikTok or anything like that but they have YouTube,” Basil said. “I’ll tell you what really happened: the pandemic. The pandemic happened and it was like, you can watch YouTube for a couple of hours, not missing their friends.”
Those couple of hours turned into a couple more hours and as the boys got older, it became harder to keep them off it because all their friends have it too.
Research on how these short-form videos may impact brain development is still in its very early stages, but findings from a study published by Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo suggest watching too many of these videos can lead to addictive behavior in college students.
“We looked at the negative aspects of using too many short videos,” said Dr. Bidyut Hazarika. “It’s not just TikTok video it can be Instagram Reels and stuff like that.”
For Basil and her family, she said she doesn’t need research to prove what she’s noticing in her children -- especially when they’re asked to stop watching and to do something not as exciting.
“I’m always constantly saying be mindful. Give 100% of what you’re doing because I completely pulled you out of something else and I need you to do what I’m asking you to do at 100%,” Basil said. “It’s a little jarring for them for sure because they are locked in. 100% completely locked in.”
The studies into the impact of these short videos are just beginning, and there is a lot of what we don’t know.
Experts urge people to talk to their children about social media, and to teach them how to set boundaries.
Jane Harness, child and adolescent psychiatrist at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, says parents and guardians should consider asking their families the following questions:
- What do you like about social media?
- What do you not like about social media?
- Have you ever found yourself in a difficult situation due to social media?
- What does social media add or take away from your life?
- What are some thoughts that you have about changing your social media use? Are there ways that I could help you with that?
- Could we take a look at the settings together, and maybe take a look and see if we could add reminders for how long they’ve been on the particular app?
“There are just so many different ways that youth can make changes to their social media use,” Harness said.
A 2022 study published by Michigan Medicine found that more than half of the teens who responded said they have deleted or thought about deleting a social media app. Other teens had set limits, changed settings, or taken other steps to limite what they see and protect their wellbeing.
Resources for families: