Why can’t I stop watching short videos, and why do I get more tired the more I watch?

What is it that makes us unable to stop watching short videos and makes us more tired the more we watch? Is it algorithms, addiction mechanisms or dopamine? Let's read this article to uncover the mystery behind the behavior of watching short videos that makes us tired and non-stop.

According to Yuehu's "2022Q3 Mobile Internet Industry Data Research Report", in the third quarter of 2022, the average daily usage time of Douyin per person was as high as 140 minutes. This data is terrifying. It has exceeded the length of a movie. It is hard to imagine what the effect is for a person to watch a movie on average every day.

The reason why TikTok users spend so much time on it is because of the algorithm and short videos' control over the user's addiction mechanism. In essence, short videos control the laws of dopamine and use its expectation-obtaining mechanism to make people addicted.

1. Dopamine’s anticipation of reward

When it comes to short video addiction, we have to first talk about the operating mechanism of dopamine.

Many people have a misunderstanding about dopamine, thinking that when a person gets what he wants, dopamine will begin to be secreted, bringing him happiness.

In fact, it is not dopamine, but endorphins, which are designed to make us enjoy the present moment.

Dopamine is not a "reward", but a "driving factor". The sizzling sound of the steak stimulates the brain to release dopamine, not the steak itself.

For example, when you want a new phone or want to be friends with a beautiful woman, dopamine will be secreted and drive you to fulfill your desire. But once you have obtained the phone or the beautiful woman has become your girlfriend, the effect of dopamine will gradually fade. This is why love fades after the dopamine excitement or the so-called romance.

As Daniel Lieberman says, "From a dopamine perspective, having is boring, only getting is fun. If you live under a bridge, dopamine will make you want a tent. If you live in a tent, dopamine will make you want a house. If you live in the most expensive mansion in the world, dopamine will make you want a castle on the moon. Dopamine will not settle for a certain standard, and the pursuit is endless. The dopamine circuits in the brain can only be stimulated by the possibility of something shiny, no matter how perfect the current thing is. The motto of dopamine is to want more."

When you are physically and mentally exhausted, dopamine will drive you to find ways to relax. At this time, your mobile phone is next to you, and dopamine will drive you to pick up your phone and open a short video.

Not only that, when watching short videos, every time you finish watching a video, dopamine will drive you to look forward to the next video. You will think that the next video must be more interesting and must be what I like more. In this way, dopamine will be secreted to drive you to refresh, and you may have been watching for an hour without realizing it.

This is why we like to watch short videos when we encounter some complex problems and don’t want to solve them at the moment. Solving the current problem requires thinking and consumption, so it is painful, but dopamine drives you to watch short videos, which is relaxing and happy.

2. Dopamine’s expectation for unexpected surprises

Both animals and humans look forward to unexpected surprises, and two experiments can profoundly illustrate this point.

1. Skinner’s pigeon experiment

In this experiment, Skinner put two groups of pigeons into a box with a device that could give them food. One group received food rewards every time they pecked the right point, while the other group received food rewards randomly, sometimes getting no food even if they pecked the right point, and sometimes getting food even if they pecked the wrong point.

In the first group, each pigeon pecked at the lever with boredom and precision. In the second group, the pigeons did not know when the food would come, and each reward was a surprise to them. The pigeons became excited, pecking faster, and something was clearly driving them to make a greater effort.

2. Experiments on humans

In 2001, neuroscientist Greg Burns used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study how predictability affects our experience of pleasure.

The experimental setup is simple: the subjects lie flat in the scanner with a tube in their mouths, and they may suck a little juice. One group sets the juice to flow out every 10 seconds. The other group randomly flows out, and the time is unpredictable. The results show that for those who drink juice at a fixed frequency, as they drink more and more juice, the subjects' pleasure response will decrease rapidly. When the juice flows out randomly in an unpredictable way, the activity in the nucleus accumbens of the subjects' brains is more frequent.

The nucleus accumbens is a specific area near the center of the brain that, if stimulated directly with deep electrodes, people report “feeling good.” If monkeys are given such an electrode button to stimulate the nucleus accumbens, they will keep pressing it until they are exhausted, happily choosing this self-stimulation over food, water, or even sex.

So when subjects knew when the reward would arrive, they found it less enjoyable, and when pleasure was unpredictable, novelty was more pleasurable.

Dopamine rush also comes from anticipated surprises: when we receive a birthday gift box from a friend, we look forward to what is in the box, and when we receive a message from a lover, we look forward to what the message will say. These anticipated surprises make people feel excited.

When you are walking on the very familiar way home from get off work, you will not take a second look at the shops on the road because you have seen them too many times and they cannot arouse your interest.

One day, when you see a newly opened bakery, dopamine will start to be secreted, and it will drive you to go in and see what good things there are. But after you go in a few times, you will no longer be very interested in this store, and the excitement of dopamine (that is, the excitement brought by anticipation) is not long-lasting. When the exciting mystery of unknown things becomes a boring and familiar daily routine, dopamine's work is done, and disappointment takes advantage of the opportunity to enter.

Why does love always fade? Because our brains are wired to crave the unexpected, and therefore look forward to the future, where every exciting dream is born. But when love becomes commonplace, the excitement slips away, and our attention is attracted by other novel things.

Should an item be discounted 50% absolutely or given a random discount from 0% to 100% on a dial?, Matt Johnson argues that most people will choose the random discount over the absolute discount, even when the overall expected value is the same.

The reason why slot machines and blind boxes are addictive is because they contain unpredictable surprises. When you pull the lever of the slot machine or open the blind box, you will expect them to give you a surprise, either three identical images or a hidden doll.

Brushing through information streams or watching short videos is like playing a slot machine. When we refresh, we always expect it to bring newer information, information that we have never seen before but are interested in, or information that surprises us. This information is uncertain, and we are always expecting the next piece of information to surprise us.

3. Zeigarnik Effect + Eternal Unfinished Tense

Russian psychologist Zeigarnik discovered a phenomenon in a cafe he often visited: waiters were better able to remember details of orders that had not yet been paid, but once the order was completed, they found it difficult to recall any details.

After research, Zeigarnik came up with the Zeigarnik effect named after her: the task that is started will create a specific tension in the person's mind, and this tension will increase the cognitive accessibility of related content. When the task is completed, the tension will be eliminated, but if the task is interrupted, the tension will continue. Through the continuous tension, the content will be easier to access and recall.

The Zeigarnik effect can be summarized in an idiom: "If you keep thinking about it, it will come true."

The Zeigarnik effect shows the characteristic of human memory, which tends to remember unfinished things.

In daily life, most of the things we do will eventually be completed, such as watching a movie in 2 hours, completing a work task in 3 days, reading a book in a week, etc. When this task is completed, we will no longer think about it and put our energy into new tasks.

But the information flow of text and video is not like this. There is endless information on the information platform. After watching a video, there is another video on the same subject. Since the information on these platforms is almost infinite, like an information universe, you will never feel that you have completed it, so you will keep scrolling.

If you are already very tired of brushing and want to take a break, your brain will think that the task is not completed and will keep thinking about it. Eventually, you will fall into a deep sleep until you are exhausted.

Reading has an end, watching TV has an ending, and even playing games has a level to be completed, but watching short videos will never have an end, and you will eventually be trapped in an endless information universe.

As mentioned above, when monkeys are given a button that stimulates their nucleus accumbens, they will keep pressing the button until they are exhausted.

The same is true for watching short videos. Dopamine will stimulate you to keep refreshing to get newer, more interesting and more unexpected information. You will keep refreshing until you are exhausted. Many people will say that the more you watch short videos, the more tired you become. This is the reason.

IV. Conclusion: Dopamine stimulates us to get rewards and surprises

Essentially, the reasons why slot machines, blind boxes and short videos are addictive are the same.

They all provide uncertain rewards, which make us have a strong sense of curiosity and anticipation. We don’t know what the next time we pull the lever, open the box, or slide the screen, dopamine will drive us to repeat these behaviors over and over again, hoping to get some surprise or satisfactory rewards, and make us feel happy and excited.

Dopamine stimulates us to complete some things to get rewards and surprises, thus forming a positive cycle of investment-reward. However, if these things do not have a clear goal and meaning, but are just for the pursuit of uncertain rewards and surprises, then we will fall into a perpetual unfinished state, forming a negative cycle of investment-tension.

This negative cycle is something we should stay away from.

Author: Xunkong, Source: WeChat public account “Xunkong’s Marketing Revelation”.