Watching short form content damages the brain five times worse than alcohol

TikTok is not your friend

With a bit of luck, this groundbreaking research led by Professor Qiang Wang at the Tianjin Normal University might help to change a few phone-glued lifestyles out there.

It found that short-form video addicts - by their own account, that is - display increased activity in the reward pathways of the brain, meaning they're much more likely to be impulsive like alcoholics or gamblers.

Yes, the quick-fire clips that populate TikTok, YouTube and Instagram are an art form in their own right, but the reality is they're 'overfeeding' our dopamine systems, which blunts the ability to find pleasure in external endeavours. This is all to do with the prefrontal cortex, the section of the brain responsible for regulating emotions and decision-making.

By scrolling and scrolling (and scrolling and scrolling and scrolling), we're programming ourselves to thrive off short-term rewards, making everything else boring in comparison.

Similar to alcohol abusers, short-form fiends can even start to suffer from a bad memory as their hippocampus deteriorates. It's therefore more difficult to process complex concepts and retain new information, just like being hungover.

"Short-form video addiction is a global public health threat," said Professor Wang.

This comes after 1 in 10 Brits admitted that they preferred 'doomscrolling' over sex.

In response to this horrific revelation, researchers OnePlus launched their Brain Rot Blaster web game, which self-destructs after just one go. It features characters inspired by the most negative digital demons found in the research, including negative news, reality TV, and celebrity drama.

Celina Shi, chief marketing officer of OnePlus Europe shared in a statement: "It's easy to fall into mindless scrolling – at home, at work, even around loved ones. With this campaign, we're encouraging people to take back control of their screen time and use their phones with more purpose. Why lose hours to the scroll, when you could be creating something that inspires you instead?"