Short-Form Video Overload

How TikTok Reels, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and Facebook Reels can work against you

You open TikTok for “just a minute,” and an hour later you’re still scrolling. Reels and Shorts deliver an endless stream of bite-sized clips, each swipe giving you a tiny dopamine hit, and then the next video hooks you again. Before you know it, time, momentum and focus have slipped away.

This rapid-fire content can:

• Cause procrastination, leaving important tasks undone
• Consume hours meant for work, study or rest
• Overwhelm your dopamine system so small hits no longer satisfy
• Drain mental energy through decision fatigue
• Heighten anxiety as the algorithm pushes stressful or comparison-driven content
• Disrupt concentration, making longer-form thinking feel impossible
• Fuel restlessness, compelling you to check again and again
• Worsen mood swings, with bursts of excitement followed by sudden lows

These platforms are built to maximise your watch time, not your wellbeing. If you’re struggling to focus, rest or stay motivated, this cycle may be deepening your digital-addiction and reinforcing anxiety or low mood.