Why do you feel empty after the "more than ten seconds of pleasure" that makes you want more?

I accidentally picked up my phone before going to bed and opened the short video app, hoping to give a happy ending to my busy day...

As a result, I became more and more excited the more I watched, immersed in the videos that were never deviating from the essence, and laughing like a fool in my bed.

It was early morning, and I forced myself to close my eyes and go to sleep, but the magical BGM kept ringing in my mind. I tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep, so I picked up my phone and started browsing again...

Watch it before going to bed, watching it while squatting in the toilet, watching it while slacking off at work... Watching 300 videos a day has become a habit for many people.

Contents of various topics are compressed into videos of more than ten seconds each. Once you get addicted, it is difficult to extricate yourself.

According to the "2020 China Internet Audio-Visual Development Research Report", as of June 2020, the average daily short video viewing time of Chinese netizens was 110 minutes.

Short videos have become a great way for us to kill time.

But you don’t know that short videos are also quietly stealing your IQ.

Have you ever had this feeling after watching videos for a long time: it is becoming increasingly difficult to concentrate, and when you are working/studying, you want to take out your phone every few minutes to check it, and you feel uneasy if you don’t check it.

When we encounter slightly complex content or questions, we don’t have the patience to read or think. And when we are under more pressure, we want to look at our phones more! On the surface, this is because we have poor self-control.

In fact, it is short videos, Weibo, and even various entertainment apps that are subtly harming our brains.

When you become addicted to your phone, your brain goes through three stages: desensitization, sensitization, and degeneration of the brain’s prefrontal cortex. [1]

Desensitization

When watching videos, interesting content will stimulate the brain to secrete dopamine, which makes us feel happy and joyful (dopamine is also related to various addictive behaviors), but "happiness" has a threshold, just like a drug addict, only by taking more and more can he maintain that sense of excitement, and the same is true for watching short videos.

For example, I used to be very happy after watching videos for 2 minutes, but now I may not feel excited even after watching videos for an hour. However, my brain is craving for this kind of excitement, so I have to spend more time watching videos.

This repetitive process causes our "brain" to become numb and cause sensitization reactions.

Sensitization reaction

More sensitive to things related to addiction.

In other words, once you get used to playing mobile games or watching short videos, it will be difficult to get interested in other things, such as reading, studying, thinking, etc.

Degeneration of the frontal lobe of the brain

In the process of continuous desensitization and sensitization, the function of the brain's prefrontal lobe (responsible for cognition, interest, behavior management, etc.) may begin to degenerate, and eventually we will be unable to control our behavior. Due to a series of chain reactions, we may even experience symptoms such as mental tension, neurasthenia, depression, and loss of self-control.

Some studies seem to prove this point: a 2018 study in PNAS analyzed 730,000 data from 1970 to 2009 and found that humans' IQ has been declining, with an average drop of 7 points every 10 years.

▲In 1975, human IQ underwent a significant turning point

Image source: PNAS official website

In addition, French psychiatrist Michel DeMille also stated in his book The Digital Idiot Factory that the digital native generation, who were born and grew up with the Internet, have lower IQs than their parents. [3]

So, when you are playing with your mobile phone comfortably, you may be becoming stupid quietly.

Seeing this, many people disagree, thinking that we are exposed to massive amounts of information every day, knowing everything from astronomy to gossip, and should be more knowledgeable.

But is it really like that?

In the era of big data, various platforms use algorithms to cater to your preferences and push whatever you like. They seem to be aware of everything, and you can even use the keyboard to express your opinions and make suggestions.

However, in reality, you are just constantly circulating in content of the same dimension and without depth, and the information you see is becoming narrower and narrower, especially when you are surrounded by content that you like. This overly comfortable and easy atmosphere will make us lose the enthusiasm for thinking and exploration.

At the same time, these contents are not the whole picture of the real world. If you confine yourself to a one-sided world over time, it will lead to narrow-mindedness, which will inevitably lead to various misunderstandings and prejudices.

The most terrifying thing is that being addicted to watching short videos not only costs us our IQ, but also our money.

When we become more and more stupid, it will be easier to cut the leeks.

Just think about it, in China's long history, thrift has always been a virtue, but in just a few decades, consumerism has become popular. Who "advocated" and "induced" this? Capital?

Under the bombardment of distorted values ​​and consumption concepts such as "Girls who don't know how to take care of their skin don't love themselves", "Men who are unwilling to spend money on girls don't love you", and "Double Eleven is not Singles' Day, but a crazy shopping festival", our values ​​have been affected and our consumption concepts have been reshaped.

For example, Simba, the anchor of Kuaishou, still drove 2 billion yuan in consumption on Kuaishou through his first live broadcast after being caught up in a fake goods scandal. His not-so-high-end packaging still attracted the enthusiasm of countless fans.

And this is how the consumerism of the new era came about.

With short videos everywhere today, how can we avoid being swept up in them?

In fact, there is nothing wrong with watching short videos occasionally to relax and entertain yourself, but if you have become addicted, you must be wary of the "toxic chicken soup" that is being spread, because it will repeatedly remind you: you can be happy just by lying down.

In addition to happiness, people living in this world sometimes need grand and profound thinking, which may require reading an obscure book, conquering a mountain, or cycling 500 kilometers. Although these processes are painful, the rewards may make us suddenly enlightened. Only then can we experience a kind of happiness that makes us feel at ease and no longer anxious.

More importantly, you won’t become stupid and you won’t be taken advantage of.

References:

[1] Dalian Daily: “Effectively avoid “low-level happiness” during the holidays”. 2021-07-27.

[2] Reference News: “US media: Research shows smartphones can make people less intelligent and their brains duller”. 2017-11-06.

[3] Reference News: "Foreign media: Digital natives have lower IQs than their parents. Reference News". 2020-11-03.