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When I watch videos on my phone, I mostly just watch downloaded TV shows using VLC. I never use the youtube app. If I watch a youtube video, I use Firefox with uBlock origin.
I hate using a small screen, so I watch 99.9% of my videos on my laptop and desktop. I can't stand youtube shorts, so I use an addon to block them.
I had never used Instagram reels until recently but also found it pretty damned addictive once I did try them. The ease of access and variety of content is pretty compelling. Of course, it's information junk food. Very little of intellectual value comes with it, and it's quite mentally passive, so it's a good idea to limit how much time you spend on it.
Its the oversaturated colours, not the short form content. The latter has no alternative, and short form content is sometimes much better than 10 minute filler and sponsorship ridden videos.
Put your phone on grayscale, doable on both Android and iOS from settings or some system toggle. Short form content is not the convincing answer everyone thinks it is. It has existed since 2000s with US-based Vine (Tiktok is a Vine clone), then Snapchat Shorts, then Instagram Reels, then Tiktok, and now YouTube Shorts.
Another protip is to find some kind of app or filter to desaturate your screen, if you cannot do grayscale in long term. Desaturate by 50% and see the magic for yourself.
AMOLED transition on phones did not happen for the dark (crushed) blacks and power saving, that is pure marketing drivel practically.
Giving the gray-scale thing a try, I think the thing that sets modern short form content apart is how fast, snappy and easy to scroll it is though
Rarely have more than half a second of downtime between shorts, I think that is the issue recently
The short form content is doing something else, it is not directly the short length that is to blame. It is the information overload and the methods and information used to incite some form of emotion from you, and to solicit engagement. That is the endgame you have to win against.
Information overload can also happen with 10 minute videos. You have to stay away from overloading the brain constantly, and give it proper breaks, and even disengage from visually stimulating content to keep a stable, spike-less dopamine feed to your brain.
Even people?
TIL not only robots can get addicted to social media
I don't watch shorts, but the algorithm became absolute trash for me recently.
Maybe Instagram. I donβt really like videos but I like environment, art etc pictures
I am using
This is already enough to get me addicted and its not even typical social media
I hadnβt noticed but I think youβre right
Yeah as much as I hate shorts or reels in theory it's so easy to get sucked in to scrolling for hours. I had to delete instsgram and install an extension that blocks shorts because of it
