Short-form videos are dominating social media, prompting researchers to explore their impact on engagement and cognitive function. Your brain may even be changing.
From TikTok to Instagram Reels to YouTube Shorts, short videos are integral to platforms like LinkedIn and Substack. However, emerging research indicates a link between heavy short-form video consumption and issues with concentration and self-control.
The initial findings resonate with concerns about “brain rot,” defined by Oxford University Press as “the perceived deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual condition.” This term has gained such popularity that it was named the word of the year for 2024.
In September, a review of 71 studies found that extensive short-form video use was correlated with cognitive decline, especially in attention span and impulse control, involving nearly 100,000 participants. Published in the American Psychological Association’s Psychological Bulletin, this review also connected heavy consumption to heightened symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness.
Similarly, a paper released in October summarized 14 studies that indicated frequent consumption of short-form videos is linked to shorter attention spans and poorer academic performance. Despite rising concerns, some researchers caution that the long-term effects remain unclear.
James Jackson, a neuropsychologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, noted that fear of new technologies is longstanding, whether regarding video games or iconic concerts. He acknowledges legitimate concerns but warns against overreacting. “It’s naive to dismiss worries as just grumpy complaints,” he said.
Jackson emphasized that research indicates extensive short-form video consumption could adversely affect brain function, yet further studies are needed to identify who is most at risk, the long-lasting impact, and the specific harmful mechanisms involved.
ADHD diagnoses in the U.S. are on the rise, with about 1 in 9 children diagnosed by 2022, according to the CDC. Keith Robert Head, a doctoral student at Capella University, suggests that the overlap between ADHD symptoms and risks from short videos deserves attention. “Are these ADHD diagnoses truly ADHD, or merely effects of short video use?” he questioned.
Three experts noted that research on the long-term effects of excessive short-form video use is in its early stages, with international studies revealing links to attention deficits, memory issues, and cognitive fatigue. However, these studies do not establish causation, often capturing only a snapshot in time.
Dr. Nidhi Gupta, a pediatric endocrinologist focused on screen time effects, argues that more research is necessary, particularly concerning older adults who may be more vulnerable. Gupta cautions that cognitive changes associated with short-form media may lead to a new addiction, likening it to “video games and TV on steroids.” She speculated that, just as research on alcohol and drugs took decades to evolve, a similar moral panic around short videos could emerge within the next 5 to 10 years.
Nevertheless, Jackson contends that short-form videos can be beneficial for online learning and community engagement: “The key is balance. If this engagement detracts from healthier practices or fosters isolation, then that becomes a problem.”
A swift left hook, a front kick to the chest, a series of cross jabs, and the crowd erupts in cheers. However, it isn’t traditional kickboxing skills that determine the outcome of the match; instead, an attempted roundhouse kick goes awry, leading to the kickboxer from a prestigious university team tumbling to the floor.
While conventional kickboxing involves risks like bloodshed, sweat, and severe head injuries, competitors in Friday’s match at Beijing’s inaugural world humanoid robot game encountered a unique set of challenges, including balance, battery life, and a deeper philosophical purpose.
The compact humanoid robot named Kickboxer, entered by a team from a leading Chinese University of Technology, is part of the Jamboree—a humanoid event showcased at China’s latest tech gatherings. This government-backed competition kicked off after an audience of 12,000 national speed skaters, training for the 2022 Winter Olympics, performed to the Chinese national anthem on Friday morning.
“I came here out of curiosity,” remarked Hong Yun, a 58-year-old retired engineer seated in the front row. He mentioned that watching a robot compete was “far more thrilling than seeing real humans doing the same.”
The robot is set to compete in five soccer matches on the event’s first day in Beijing. Photo: Tingshu Wang/Reuters
The event showcases China’s proficiency in humanoid robotics, a sector prominently featured within the country’s artificial intelligence landscape. The promotional efforts are in full swing.
Similar to kickboxing, humanoids engaged in various sports, including athletics, soccer, and dance. One robot stumbled during a 1500-meter event, losing its head mid-course. “Maintaining [the head] was our goal,” shared Wang Ziyi, a 19-year-old student from Beijing Union University who was part of the robotics team.
A troupe of humanoid dance robots took to the stage during the 2025 Spring Festival Gala, a televised celebration that captivated nearly 1.7 billion viewers online.
One robot got derailed midway through a 1500m event as its head detached. Photo: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
These social media-friendly activities reflect more serious geopolitical dynamics, highlighting the intensifying technological rivalry between the US and China, which may reshape the AI landscape.
This technology has become a pivotal factor in relations between the two nations. Despite the US’s continued lead in frontier research, Beijing is heavily investing in practical applications like robotics, partly driven by restrictions on Washington’s advanced chip exports to China.
Several cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, have created 100 billion yuan (around 1 billion pounds) funds for the robotics industry. In January, state-owned banks revealed plans to offer 1 trillion yuan in financial support for the AI sector over the next five years.
“If there’s a sector where [Beijing] has heavily invested, it’s this one,” noted Kyle Chan, a researcher at Princeton University.
The robot is seen being transported after a kickboxing match during the competition’s opening day. Photo: China News Service/Getty Images
There’s something inherently unsettling about witnessing a jerky, human-like robot with two arms and legs, being dragged out of the ring by a human operator.
In the realm of humanoids, the Chinese industry possesses many strengths. While US firms like Tesla and Boston Dynamics remain dominant overall, several Chinese companies—including Ubtech and Unitree Robotics, who provided the boxing robots for Friday’s match—are swiftly catching up.
Tesla relies on China for numerous components needed to produce its physical humanoids. According to investment bank Morgan Stanley, the China-based supply chain is projected to manufacture robots using a third of its non-Chinese suppliers. “It appears remarkably challenging to disentangle this area from China completely,” Sheng Zhong, head of Chinese Industrial Research at the bank, noted in a recent report.
The robot, developed by the Chinese firm Unitree Robotics, is seen playing traditional drums. Photo: Tingshu Wang/Reuters
Beyond just generating positive attention on social media, China envisions humanoids as potential solutions to challenges posed by its aging population and shrinking workforce. A recent article from the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, suggested that robots could provide both practical and emotional support to the elderly. “The vision for robot-assisted elderly care is not far off,” it asserted. Humanoid robots could also replace factory workers as China seeks to retrain its workforce for more advanced technological roles.
However, there remains a significant gap between humanoids that can stumble through a sports match and those capable of managing everyday tasks. Ensuring safe interactions with vulnerable populations represents another considerable challenge. “The home is likely one of the last environments where humanoid robots will be welcomed for safety reasons,” Chan stated. “Overall, I maintain a somewhat skeptical view regarding the humanoid explosion.”
A technician works on humanoid robots in the vicinity of the game. Photo: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Two significant obstacles to deploying technology that is useful beyond PR stunts are the complexity of human environments and the dexterity required to navigate them.
While other forms of AI, like large language models, can be trained using vast amounts of digital data, there are far fewer datasets available to train algorithms for walking through crowded restaurants or maneuvering stairs. China’s initiatives to integrate robots into everyday settings might assist businesses in gathering more data, yet that remains a major bottleneck, according to Chang.
Dr. Jonathan Aitken, a robotics lecturer at the University of Sheffield, echoed this sentiment. “The current AI state is not yet prepared for humanoids operating in uncontrolled environments,” he asserted.
While impressive displays, such as a robot jumping or kicking, showcase remarkable capabilities, executing mundane tasks—like using a knife or folding laundry—demands a level of finesse. Human hands possess approximately 27 “degrees of freedom,” enabling independent movements. In contrast, one of the most advanced models available, Tesla’s Optimus Humanoid, has only 22.
Nevertheless, China has defied the odds before with rapid advancements. Just a decade ago, the nation exported fewer than 375,000 cars annually. Today, China stands as the world’s largest automotive supplier, shipping nearly 6 million vehicles each year. In response, the European Union has raised tariffs on electric vehicles produced in China to curb this trend.
In China, both the government and the populace are firmly behind the push for humanoids. Zhan Guangtao attended the Humanoid Games alongside her two daughters on Friday. “It’s essential to expose my kids to advanced robotics from around the world,” Zhan remarked. “Such exposure broadens their perspectives.”
start again Wide range of weekly episodes available There’s nothing more inducing an existential crisis than a ’90s icon being a midlife expert, but Davina McCall is the genre’s OG. Introducing a new podcast about new starts, turning points, and the “curving lines” of life. McCall, as always, is a bundle of empathy and isn’t afraid to cry with his guests. The first person is Fearne Cotton, who talks about her challenges. This isn’t your average celebrity chat podcast, as McCall listens intently and digs into his guests’ answers. Hannah Verdier
hyperfix Wide range of weekly episodes available This peppy podcast bills itself as a help desk for life’s most intractable problems. An “overconfident moron” (his words), Alex Goldman spends as much time on the gram as he does America’s Cup trying to create the perfect cake as he does investigating why driving in New York is so bad. It’s just as interesting as helping women who are trying to convert. HV
X marks the place… New podcast questions Elon Musk’s use of surveillance. Photo: David Swanson/Reuters
not too extreme Wide range of weekly episodes available Dr. Bernie Fisher played a pivotal role in improving the way breast cancer patients are treated. Without his work, women might still undergo disfiguring surgeries. Here, Dr. Stacey Wentworth takes us from the operating room to the White House and explains how Fisher, the women’s movement, and science have fundamentally changed breast cancer treatment. Holly Richardson
elon’s spy Widely available, all episodes now available Is Elon Musk using secret agents to gather information on the people he has his ax to grind with? That’s the allegation this series explores, featuring an extensive interview with a British diver whom he called a “pedo bastard” after making a remarkable rescue of a team of trapped young Thai soccer players in an underwater cave. I am doing it. Alexi Duggins
Lost Notes: Groupies – From Pills to Punks, the Women of the Sunset Strip Wide range of weekly episodes available The podcast begins with a group of teenage girls being chased by the likes of Led Zeppelin and David Bowie in the ’70s. That’s amazing, but shallow. There’s no shortage of wild party stories – and they’re worth hearing – but judging by the first episode, it’s supposed to do much more to interrogate the ethics of power and age dynamics. advertisement
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Fail upwards…Elizabeth Day, host of the hugely successful How to Fail. Photo: David Levenson/Getty Images
this week, Rachel Aroesti choose the best five listen comfortablyfrom a viral wedding mystery to Elizabeth Day’s seminal show about failure.
A perfect day with Jessica Knappett There are many “perfect” podcasts out there covering everything from dreamy meals (off-menu) to ideal vacations (life is on the beach) to fantasy funerals (where there’s a will and where there’s a wake). A relatively recent addition to the genre, it’s definitely one of the most comforting. That’s partly because of the subject matter – it’s quite a meditative experience to hear all the lovely, relaxing things our guests incorporate into their perfect day schedules – and partly because of the energy of our friends. Thanks to our hilarious host for venting (it helps that she’s actually friends with guests like Tim Key and Emerald Fennell), she lets us veer off into weird stories. Fearlessly leading meandering conversations.
Who squatted on the floor at my wedding? The rise of podcasting and the rise in actual involvement in crime go hand in hand, and it’s no wonder. Immersive, detailed, and cliffhanger-heavy investigations are the perfect fuel for the audio format. But what if you want the satisfaction of crime-solving but don’t want any of the depressing violence or global corruption? This podcast is your answer. In this podcast, amateur detective Lauren Kilby tries to figure out who was responsible for the defecation incident at her friends Karen and Helen’s wedding on a boat. The resulting pod is a highly entertaining and pleasantly low-stakes addition to the true crime genre. Even better, the team recently returned with another delightfully fun mystery titled The Case of The Tiny suit/Case.
how fail Elizabeth Day’s hit podcast isn’t exactly an exercise in schadenfreude, but by inviting celebrities (including Kate Winslet, Bonnie Tyler, and Richard Osman) to reveal their top three mistakes, Elizabeth Day’s hit podcast to Fail” certainly helps listeners feel a little better about their failures. We did something wrong in our lives. The show often serves as a reminder that no one has a perfectly great life, a necessary corrective in the Instagram era, but the show also features guests with stories of shocking adversity. Bringing in also provides evidence that success is possible even through periods of turmoil.
Green Wing: Resurrection Comfort is often closely tied to nostalgia. That’s why shows like Friends have made a comeback during the pandemic. In fact, there’s something about 2000s television that looms especially large in our collective comfort zones. For comedy fans of a certain age, the hospital comedy Green Wing definitely fits this concise description. And for those who have completed a simple trip down memory lane, the return of this podcast will be gratefully received. Green Wings: Resurrection is faithful to the original story, starring Stephen Mangan (as the pathetic surgeon Guy Secretan), Julian Lind-Tutt (as the swoon-worthy Mac), and Michelle Gomez (as the Cracker Stuff liaison). The majority of cast members will return, including Sue (Sue). . Note the familiar strangeness and uncompromising stupidity.
See What Crappens For anyone in need of peace of mind, reality shows should be very high on their agenda. In particular, the Real Housewives series is a non-stop festival of bickering and petty drama. This podcast is brought to you and released by enthusiasts Ben Mandelker and Ronnie Karam Five Once a week – We recap all 11 US Housewives programs (and others from reality network Bravo). It’s your in-depth guide to every character, storyline, and feud, plus your chance to gossip, joke, and vent your grievances about your most infuriating cast members. All delivered with the kind of growing hysteria that such a relentless schedule inevitably produces.
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Holiday with Woody and PierceIn this article, two indie musicians tell fans about the trials and rewards of following a team across the country (or the world, really).
circleWhen Charity Ekezie first joined TikTok in 2020 and started posting videos from her home in Abuja, Nigeria, she had recently left her job at a radio station. She saw TikTok as a way to stay active and maintain her journalism skills.
Within a few months, she realized from the comments on her posts that some people had no knowledge about Africa. Commenters from the UK, US, and European nations asked her questions like if Africa had mobile phones or access to water.
“Wait a minute, are you serious?” Ekezie thought at the time. “This is not the Africa I live in. We have telephones and bottled water. I decided to start responding.”
Armed with humor and sarcasm, Ekezie’s witty replies to questions such as “Do they have planes in Africa?” or “Do they have shoes in Africa?” have garnered her over 4.5 million followers globally. Find her on Tick tock, Instagram, Youtube and Facebook. Some of her posts have amassed tens of millions of views.
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in 1 TikTok post
Answering a question about why Africans can buy mobile phones but not water, she holds a bottle of water in her hands, with more bottles stacked behind her, and explains that every month people gather for a spitting festival. “All the men do a spiritual chant led by the community magician, and all the women and girls take a turn spitting into the drum. After two days, we go for a purification ritual, so we can take the saliva and drink it,” she jokes.
People laughed at the video, which prompted Ekezie to make more videos and get more questions. Some of them were just trolling, but many were serious.
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The video has been viewed more than 22 million times so far, but it has also attracted thousands of racist comments. Ekezie said, “The water was brown during that time. I started getting comments like, ‘Oh my god, the water you’re drinking is dirty,’ and people were saying the water is washing me away, that’s why it’s brown and why I’m so black.”
People left monkey emojis. Ekezie said she didn’t always notice the racism. “I didn’t understand it,” she said. “I was aware of the concept of racism, but I’d never been treated in a racist way. It really hurt.”
But she also received a lot of positive feedback from many Africans, some of whom joined in on the joke in the comments section. People from all over Africa responded to the post, which made light of the fact that many people don’t understand that Africa is a continent, not just one country, with flag emojis. “No matter where you’re from, they were united and they got the joke,” Ekezie says. “Some people said, ‘You will singlehandedly unite Africa.’ That was so cool.”
From this experience, Ekezie, who spent part of her childhood in Cameroon, learned that “Africa is not promoted at all in the West and people don’t know anything about us. I thought people read books but apparently that’s not the case. It’s heartbreaking because we are exposed to Western media, music, and culture every day.”
She’s grateful to be able to share her perspective on social media, and her YouTube following has grown so much over the past year that she’s been able to make a living from her posts. “I make videos because people want to see Africa through my lens, so they can see that it’s not this dreary jungle,” she says.
“I’m not saying African countries are perfect,” she adds. “And what country is perfect? But we need to do our best. People need to know that we have our own problems, but we’re also great countries. We have great cultures, great food, great people.”
Ocean currents flowing from the tropics to the North Atlantic have a major influence on Europe's climate.
jens carsten roseman
As the planet warms, is there a serious risk that the Atlantic Current that warms Europe will slow down and stop? Yes, according to the most detailed computer simulation ever performed. The likelihood of this scenario remains highly uncertain.
“We have demonstrated that it is indeed possible with our current setup,” he says. René van Westen At Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
Now, warm water, made more salty by evaporation, flows north from the tropics along the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, keeping Europe much warmer than it would otherwise be. When this water cools, it sinks because it becomes more salty and denser. It then returns to the tropics and flows along the ocean floor into the southern hemisphere.
This is known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Studies of past climate suggest that the dramatic cooling episodes that have occurred around Europe over the past 100,000 years or so have been associated with so-called tipping points, when reverse currents slow down or stop completely, and small changes in may convert one system to another. state.
The cause is thought to be melting ice sheets. The influx of large amounts of fresh water into the North Atlantic reduces salinity, which in turn reduces surface water density and reduces the amount of water that sinks.
However, this has proven difficult to model. Most shutdown simulations require adding unrealistically large amounts of fresh water at once. Some also question whether this is a potential tipping point, since recent simulations using more advanced models have not shown any shutdowns.
Now, van Westen's team has run the most sophisticated simulation to date, which took a total of six months to run on the Dutch state-run supercomputer Sunellius. It was very expensive, he says.
Unlike previous simulations, the team added fresh water gradually rather than all at once. This created a positive feedback that amplified the effect. The decrease in salinity reduced the amount of water sinking, which reduced the amount of brine flowing north, further reducing salinity.
This eventually broke the overturning circulation, causing temperatures to rise in the Southern Hemisphere but plummet in Europe. For example, in this model, London would be 10°C (18°F) cooler on average, and Bergen, Norway would be 15°C (27°F) cooler on average. Other impacts include localized sea level rise in areas such as the East Coast of the United States.
Additionally, some of the changes seen in the model before the collapse are consistent with changes seen in the real Atlantic Ocean in recent decades.
But to cause this collapse, the researchers had to run the model for 2,500 years. And they needed to add huge amounts of fresh water. Although less than previous simulations, it is still about 80 times the amount that is currently flowing into the ocean from the melting Greenland ice sheet. “So it's absurd and not very realistic,” Van Westen said.
Furthermore, this simulation did not include global warming. The team now plans to rerun the simulation with that in mind.
“This is the most cutting-edge model in which such experiments have been performed,” he says. Peter Ditlefsen He is a co-author of a 2023 study predicting that the Atlantic overturning current could break up between 2025 and 2095, based on changes in sea surface temperatures.
The model suggests it will take large amounts of fresh water and centuries to stop the circulation from reversing, but why do we think climate models are underestimating the risk of nonlinear changes like the Atlantic tipping point? There are several, Ditlefsen said.
Climate models need to divide the world into large cubes to make their calculations workable, he says, and this has a smoothing effect. Additionally, the model has been calibrated based on how well it simulates the 20th century climate, although there was a linear relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting changes. may not be applicable in the future.
“We should expect the model to be less sensitive than the real world,” Ditlevsen says.
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