Are We Scrolling into the Abyss?

Throughout human history, addiction has usually been associated with substances or activities that provide an immediate reward—alcohol, drugs, gambling, or nicotine. Today, however, we are facing a phenomenon that is far less visible.

It does not require a bottle of alcohol, a room full of slot machines, or a casino.

All it takes is a smartphone, a few seconds of free time, and an endless stream of short videos.

Platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have become an ordinary part of everyday life. Their popularity lies in their simplicity: one movement of a finger, and another video appears.

Then another.

And another.

What appears to be an innocent form of relaxation may, for some people, gradually develop into a pattern of behavior that strongly resembles the mechanisms found in other addictions.

Although addiction to short-form videos is not currently recognized as a separate diagnosis in international classifications of mental disorders, research suggests that it is more than just a fashionable label.

A study published in 2024 by a research team led by Fang-Yu Kuo analyzed the behavior of almost 1,600 TikTok users. Using machine-learning models, the researchers were able to identify individuals showing risky patterns of use with relatively high accuracy.

One particularly interesting finding was that many participants described their own behavior as a loss of control. They knew they wanted to stop, but felt unable to do so.

This sense of lost control is one of the most characteristic features of addictive behavior.

Psychology explains this mechanism through intermittent reinforcement, one of the most powerful forms of behavioral learning.

Users never know exactly which video will be the most interesting. The brain therefore remains in constant anticipation of the next reward.

The same principle is present in gambling, where a person does not know when the next win will come—and it is precisely this uncertainty that maintains the motivation to continue.

Modern algorithms intensify this mechanism even further.

They monitor which videos hold our attention for a second longer, what we react to, what we comment on, and what we share.

Based on this information, they create content specifically tailored to our attention.

The result is not only a more personalized experience, but also a greater likelihood that we will remain in front of the screen for much longer than we originally intended.

The issue is not merely wasted time.

Long-term exposure to short-form videos may influence the way our attention functions.

The brain becomes accustomed to constant novelty, rapid changes in images, and immediate gratification.

Ordinary activities such as reading a book, studying, creative work, or having a calm conversation may then begin to feel less interesting because they do not provide the same intensity of stimulation.

Many users describe a strange paradox.

After hours of scrolling, they do not feel rested.

They feel empty.

They experience mental fatigue, reduced concentration, difficulty finishing a book, or an inability to remain focused on a single task for an extended period.

Psychology describes this conflict as cognitive dissonance—the state in which a person recognizes that a certain behavior is harmful, yet continues engaging in it.

Similar findings have also been reported in research published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, suggesting that some regular users display symptoms resembling other behavioral addictions.

These may include irritability when viewing is interrupted, a strong urge to continue, and reduced sleep quality.

Perhaps the greatest danger, however, is that the problem remains almost socially invisible.

A person with alcohol dependence or a gambling disorder is often recognized as someone facing a serious problem.

Someone who spends four or five hours a day scrolling endlessly is frequently seen as merely "relaxing."

Yet the difference may lie primarily in the form of the behavior—not always in the underlying mechanism.

Of course, short videos are not inherently harmful.

They can educate, entertain, inspire, and connect people.

The decisive question is:

Who is controlling whom?

When a person can put the phone down without anxiety and digital content remains only one of many parts of life, there may be no serious problem.

But when an application begins determining the rhythm of the day and displaces relationships, physical activity, reading, creativity, or sleep, it is time to pay attention.

This is why more experts are emphasizing the importance of consciously regulating our digital lives.

The goal is not to reject technology completely.

It is to preserve space for activities that do not provide an immediate reward.

It is often in silence, concentration, patience, and even occasional boredom that our best ideas emerge, creativity develops, and psychological resilience is built.

Perhaps the greatest challenge of our time will not be learning how to use new technologies.

We have already mastered that.

The true challenge will be learning how to put them down for a while.

Because the question is no longer how many videos we watch each day.

The real question is:

How much of our lives quietly slips through our fingers while we keep scrolling?
- JK -