How to Treat Short Videos Correctly

　　Browsing short videos has become a way of entertainment and even a way of life that many people love.

Technical support is one of the important reasons for the explosive growth of short videos.

The improvement of Internet technology, the rapid development of intelligent terminals, the popularization of 4G and 5G networks, and the continuous optimization of internal applications have laid the foundation for the rapid development of short videos.

For example, the technical optimization of mobile phones and apps simplifies the cumbersome process of video shooting and editing, lowers the threshold, and ordinary users can easily publish their works on the online platform.

This makes users not only video viewers, but also video producers, just as major short video platforms are emphasizing the recording of "my" "life".

　　The interactivity, originality and convenience of short videos highlight the subjectivity of users, enabling users to change from the simple acceptance of the past to become the subject of the content.

The fast, short, streamlined, fragmented, and entertaining characteristics of short videos are well adapted to the fast-paced lifestyle of modern people, and at the same time, the fast-paced lifestyle has contributed to the development of short videos.

The vividness and image of short videos make it stand out among many media, and its shortness and speed make it more convenient than long videos.

For example, when waiting for the bus, you can watch several short videos with complete content, and you can also watch a short video you like when you pour water during work.

　　On the one hand, many people refuse to devour time by short videos, and on the other hand, they cannot control themselves to open familiar short video apps in their spare time.

In order to break this deadlock, some people download a certain type of mobile phone application, and let themselves put down their mobile phones through the forced lock mode to focus on learning and self-improvement.

Some people throw their phones directly into a "phone jail" - a cell-phone-sized box with a timer to prevent their addiction to them.

These are all using external means to get rid of the control of the mobile phone, but the effect is not so significant. The important thing is to find the deep reason why we are addicted to short videos.

So, why are we so addicted to short videos?

　　My mother is a short video lover. When she opens a short video app on her mobile phone, what appears is basically square dance teaching, clothes sales, dog funny content, and content recommendations made by my mother’s peers.

From these content pushes, we can see that she is a square dance lover, likes shopping, and likes dogs.

My commonly used short video app will "offer" my favorite video content every time, mainly game videos, dog videos and movie explanations.

This kind of "private customization" prevents us from putting down our mobile phones and spending time in pure entertainment.

Why is the short video pushed by the app "just" right in the middle?

The main reason is that in the Internet era, traffic is king. In the battle for user traffic, major platforms use big data analysis and algorithm technology to accurately grasp our preferences, so as to achieve accurate push. Hey".

　　The precise push of the app only pushes the content to the mobile phone program, we can completely refuse to browse, but on the contrary, many people stay up all night with their mobile phones to watch short videos.

So what is it that keeps us from putting down short videos?

The deep reason is that short videos give us the pleasure of instant gratification.

The ease and pleasure of short video content, the exile of depth, and the catering to user tastes make us feel instantly happy.

You don't need the long time accumulation of "ten years of hard work", and you don't need to practice an ink pool like Wang Xizhi. You only need a short video - a few minutes as long as ten seconds - to be able to gives us great satisfaction.

This kind of "low investment, high return" makes us unable to put down short videos.

Although, our life needs to be relaxed and happy, but it is obviously not advisable to swipe for hours.

I can always hear people around me or netizens blaming themselves for their long-term short-video behavior: I spend my free time playing with my mobile phone, and I regret it every time, but it will be the same next time.

So, how can we reject the instant gratification of short videos?

　　To be clear, we are rejecting instant gratification, not short videos.

Due to the lack of healthy competition and long-term planning, short video still has a long way to go.

But there are indeed many excellent short videos, well-made and rich in content; there are also many practical short videos that teach learning experience, knowledge, or life and work skills; there are also many short videos full of human warmth, spreading positive energy.

However, its short characteristics always make it difficult to have the ideological depth and value pursuit of film and television works, books, etc., and it is still in the shallow level of entertainment, unable to reach the depth of interest.

And on the whole, entertainment short videos are still top of the broadcast list.

　　The instant gratification of short videos shows the attitude of "entertainment first", lacks ideological connotation, and creates an over-entertainment environment, thus making users lose the ability to concentrate and think deeply.

What we need to grow is a long-term and in-depth thinking.

Indulging in short videos for a long time means the loss of the ability to delay gratification.

Of course, the rich video enables users to obtain more information and become more knowledgeable, but as scholar Liu Qing said, "You may have watched a lot of things, and in the end you will find that you are at a loss, and you do not know that you have obtained what", resulting in "being poor in abundance".

　　We should develop the ability to delay gratification and give up immediate gratification for longer-term gratification.

In our spare time, reading a book and learning a skill will not only take a long time, but the process may also be boring; this is far less attractive to us than short videos that exile in depth and cater to users’ interests.

But after finishing the short video, what else can we gain besides laughing?

hardly.

Because "entertainment is a way to release emotions without interfering with actual life".

And what reading brings us is what Su Shi said, "the belly has poetry and literature," and what the writer San Mao said, "the more you read, the more your face will naturally change. Many times, you may think that many of the books you have read are true In fact, they are still potential. In temperament, in conversation, in the boundless mind, of course, it may also be revealed in life and writing.”

This all takes time to accumulate, is a more valuable long-term result, is a kind of delayed gratification, and it brings us progress, enrichment and growth.

The cultivation of delayed gratification allows us to reject the instant gratification of short videos from psychology to action, rather than forcibly rejecting it with the help of foreign objects.

　　We can also make reasonable use of algorithmic techniques.

Since algorithm technology can learn our preferences through playback, likes, and attention, and then push them accurately, why not use algorithm technology to push more high-quality and practical short videos for us?

If you consciously watch, like, pay attention to short videos of practical, learning, and dissemination of positive energy, a virtuous circle will be formed, allowing short video apps to push more high-quality videos, so as to escape the trap of algorithm technology.

(Author: Wang Yuanyuan, young editor of Baihuazhou Literature and Art Publishing House)