Aimless and frequent viewing of reels and TikToks develops what is known as clip thinking.
Watching short clips on social media does not reduce intelligence but changes the structure of attention, said psychologist Elena Avdeeva. According to the specialist, the main danger is not the format of short videos itself, but the nature of a person's interaction with it. Aimless and frequent viewing of reels and TikToks develops what is known as clip thinking: a person becomes accustomed to perceiving the world through short, bright images, while the ability to analyze information weakens.
The expert noted the emergence of a "dopamine loop": the brain receives microdoses of dopamine from each clip and demands more. As a result, there is an increasing need for quick, superficial information. Consequently, a lot is consumed, but little is absorbed. This leads to a deterioration in attention stability, memory and thinking disorders, "emotional infantilization," loss of contact with one's feelings, and distortion of time perception.
The psychologist does not recommend radically giving up short videos, as this may intensify the desire to watch them. Instead, she advises filtering content, limiting viewing time with timers, and restoring brain function through reading long texts.
