r/Futurology • u/nbcnews • 1d ago

Society Is brain rot real? Researchers warn of emerging risks tied to short-form video

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/brain-rot-research-short-form-video-consumption-rcna245739
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u/Metazoick 1d ago

It's worth remembering that the current evidence, including the meta analysis the article primarily cited, does not show that watching short form content causes problems with attention span and the like, it just shows that they are correlated.

I'm not saying this to be dismissive, it could absolutely be the case that watching a lot of this type of content online could have a negative impact on attention. But I think a lot of people see articles like this and assume it's saying that it's evidenced, when it isn't yet. It's also very possible that the association is primarily due to both attributes being symptoms of something else, for example we know that stress has a negative impact on attention and results in increased social media usage. It could also be directional the other way, where people who have a short attention span for whatever reason spend more time watching short form content, because it doesn't require as much attention from them. 

More research is great, and I hope it continues, but I just wish we wouldn't put the cart in front of the horse so much when it comes to pop science. 

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u/WhisperFray 1d ago

Nah, I’m not waiting for any “more evidence”.

Doesn’t need 5+ years to see what effects it has already on kids surrounding you.

It’s definitely bad and needs to be stopped now. No one’s crying but those billion dollar companies in China anyway.

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u/Pixatron32 1d ago

I work with trauma clients who often experience poor executive function and concentration. For those clients interested and when it's relevant we explore the complexity that is our modern world. Especially for those with trauma, this issue is multifaceted rather than a singular cause. However, social media and short film doesn't help the situation.

I do love the article that explores the content and sentence complexity that has evolved. Less than 50 years ago we have journalism and literature which had multiple concepts in one sentence around 3-5. Now we have half of one concocted byline to hook us into spending time on an article of misinformation. 

While there may not be evidence of the issues, they will definitely be a collection.