Those videos you scroll for killing time might actually be causing more boredom

Watching YouTube shorts, Instagram reels and TikTok videos on endless scroll is a way to kill boredom for millions of mostly young people. However, a new study has found that moving from one video to the next actually causes more boredom.

Digital switching is the practice of people switching between videos or fast-forward through them on platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Netflix. The study done in University of Toronto showed that this switching behaviour "makes people feel more bored, less satisfied, less engaged, and less meaningful in some instances."

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Theassessment was made based on the idea that switching from one content to other is actually a tedious process, which tires one's attention span. Boredom is directly linked to attention: it's the disparity between what one wants to do or where one wants to be versus the reality.

“When people keep switching through videos, they become less engaged with the videos and they are looking for something more interesting. This can lead to increased feelings of boredom,” the Guardian newspaper quoted Dr Katy Tam at the University of Toronto Scarborough, the lead author of the research, as saying.

How 'boredom on social media' study was done

The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, reached the conclusion after experiments on 1,200 participants who were shown videos and made to answer questions about boredom.

One experiment with 140 respondents revealed that people tended to switch between videos more when they rated the content more boring.

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"We found a bidirectional, causal relationship between boredom and digital switching.When participants were bored, they switched and they believed that switching would help them avoid boredom," said the study.

It was found that switching between videos - or within a video - not only led to more boredom, but also reduced satisfaction, reduced attention, and lowered meaning.

Even when participants had the freedom to watch videos of personal choice and interest on YouTube, digital switching still intensified boredom, it found.

"Our findings suggest that attempts to avoid boredom through digital switching may sometimes inadvertently exacerbate it," said the authors.

Age may be a factor in how easily bored you get with online videos

People of different ages, said the study,may have different habits when it comes to watching videos and switching. “How people consume videos and how this affects boredom may vary based on age and digital media habits," it said, adding further research is needed to explore this aspect.

So what's the best way to enjoy videos while avoiding boredom?

“Just as we pay for an immersive experience in a movie theatre, enjoyment often comes from immersing ourselves in videos rather than swiping through them,” Tan said.

(With inputs from agencies)