We all want to use our time efficiently and productively, but social media has become a major waste of time, with many of us using it for several hours a day.
And the phrase “I will only watch some short videos” turns into hours of long, aimless viewing, especially since the “Tik Tok” site, with its beginning, mastered the art of keeping the audience following the short clips, and those clips then moved to Facebook and Instagram.
These clips take us without doing anything but scrolling from one short clip to another without getting bored even if the clips are far from our life interests, but why can't we stop?
The more times we watch short clips, the more sites' algorithms display them to users (pixels).
Escape from the real world
With real-world struggles and problems in our minds, the short clips provide us with a quick escape from the real world, and foster a sense of contentment, as no one talks about life's problems, and everyone seems happy and in tune.
The more times we watch short clips, the site's algorithms will display them more to users, thus drawing our attention in a larger way to those clips.
It's just like someone getting you addicted, as the sites evaluate each video clip the user views to determine the possibilities of enjoying it, and similar clips appear, so he keeps following the new clips, because it's like eavesdropping on others.
On the other hand, these simple short clips push us to publish similar clips of our own about our private lives, because publishing about us enhances our self-identity and makes us know how the other sees us.
Easy access to content
Social media platforms try to make content consumption as easy as possible, so they use what is known as "infinite scrolling".
This feature first appeared in 2006 when it was designed by web designer and entrepreneur Aza Raskin, and it has now spread to all social media sites.
When we start scrolling we cannot stop, so we must take our time and pause before continuing to watch because this content is designed so that we become obliged to watch it because of speed and continuity.
It is a practice in psychology based on influencing human behavior through the characteristics of a particular product or service, used to attract the public to any product or commodity, and these short clips are their makers' way to reach the audience.
15 seconds is not a little time
As content becomes more and more voluminous on social media, this content drains our attention, causing us to switch between multiple topics.
The creators of these platforms know the psychology of the mind and the reward system of humans, as every action we do is driven by the necessity of a reward or pleasure, such as food or sleep.
We feel rewarded when the behavior or action gives us some kind of pleasure, information or knowledge is also one of the causes of pleasure that brings reward.
Dopamine fires with continued viewing and enjoyment, and the user continues to scroll between clips due to unknowingly stimulating dopamine in their brain.
These clips keep your mind excited, numb, and surrender to that obsession, which resembles a well-established habit over time and the mind maintains it without our will.
We check our smartphones on average between 85 and 101 times a day (pixels)
What happens to our brains?
Although we know doctors warn against looking at smartphones for long periods of time, we check our smartphones on average between 85 and 101 times a day.
In a report issued by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, those responsible for social media applications were asked to publish data on how young people use these applications, and researchers found that there was an association between heavy social media use and cases of self-harm and suicide.
And when we think about the negative effects on mental health, research indicates that social media is one of the sources of great harm, and no one is exempt from these risks, because we don't quite know what happens inside our brains when we spend many hours a day scrolling between short clips without thinking or Goal.
Neuroscientists warn that excessive viewing affects human behavior and pushes them to depression and isolation, and virtual enjoyment away from life, which is temporary enjoyment that fuels feelings of isolation later.
How do we fight that addiction?
By understanding the techniques these videos work, we can stop them and escape them because they often pull us in without interruption, so in order to fight and stop this addiction, you have to try to watch one clip and if you really want to watch several clips, find a way to deliberately interrupt the viewing experience.
You can also use a timer that alerts you to the time while using social media, and you can also put sticky notes on the desk or in the workplace to avoid watching a lot of continuous clips.
You can also disable the display of short clips in the settings of the applications, or download an older version of each application so that the short clips do not appear and become disabled on your applications.