Dec 30, 2025
3 min read
Santo Domingo, RD/ICNS .- Short video platforms such as TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts have given rise to extreme audiovisual consumption that can translate into ...
SANTO DOMINGO, RD / ICNS.- Short video platforms such as TikTok, Instagram reels and YouTube shorts promote compulsive audiovisual consumption that can translate into addictive consumption trends.Hence its design, and its success.The architecture of these platforms produces dynamic signals and stimulating response systems that generate programming in the nervous system.
Neurobiologically, this process of immediate gratification is close to the impulse generated by gambling that leads to compulsive use.Most alarmingly, due to brain adaptation, this repetitive process can lead to chronic changes in neuronal activity due to neuroplasticity, especially in the developing nervous system, but also in adults.
Digital platforms are developed to increase attention, engagement, and retention through strategic design, instant feedback, personalized content customization, etc., which in turn influences other types of content production.A neuropsychological pattern of artificial gratification, characterized by impulsivity, novelty preference, low tolerance for delayed gratification, and difficulty concentrating, similar to other addictive behavior patterns, has been described as the "TikTok brain."
Some studies show that prolonged use of platforms based on short videos reduces performance on analytics tasks, especially when the content is emotional and scrolls quickly.This includes increases in automatic processing and decreases in cortical circuits associated with reasoning;It strengthens the brain's reflexive systems and can create structured response patterns at the level of neural connections over time.
On the other hand, the cognitive load of these platforms can saturate the limited capacity of working memory, which is overwhelmed by multiple and rapid stimuli (scene changes, music, simultaneous texts, transitions, response signals, interactions, etc.), impairing sustained attention and deep analysis in favor of attention signal processing that is reconfigured and towards immediate responses.
At a neurobiological level, these videos and the features associated with the platform act as stimuli that activate responses to the release of dopamine, with a cycle of attention to the stimulus, physical activity, desire, the activation of behavioral responses (communication) and absolute pleasure (funny video, gossip, etc.).All elements of this cycle produce phasic dopamine spikes that create a cycle of anticipation, consumption, the need for new expectations, etc.
This maintains the compulsive viewing, reinforcing the constant fluctuations of food intake and seeking new stimuli, mediated by dopamine spikes.This creates neuroadaptations, the reprogramming of neurons trained to respond impulsively to short-term stimuli.
Many consumers report immediate happiness, a decline in stress and a temporary improvement in mood, however, these short -term effects can have negative long -term consequences, as they reinforce the neuropsychological patterns that lead to immediate satisfaction through audio -visual rewards, reduce the ability to make an ongoing cognitive effort, and can also disable emotional coping mechanisms.
Neuroanatomy and functions
Executive functions are high-level processes that allow you to plan, inhibit automatic responses, maintain sustained attention, and change strategies when necessary.These skills are highly dependent on the prefrontal cortex, with the dorsolateral region playing an important role in coordinating working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility.Executive functions have a significant genetic inheritance and are not fully developed until adulthood.This means that some people are genetically more susceptible to stimulating signals.than others, and in addition, children and adolescents are vulnerable because they do not have sufficiently developed functions.
Some studies conducted on university students have shown that those who consume more short videos have greater difficulties in tasks that require long-term attention, time management and emotional regulation.Participants more addicted to these types of platforms made more errors in tasks of sustained attention, and were also found to show greater intra-individual variability in response time.Observed in the dorsal prefrontal cortex and cerebellum.Activism does not translate to better performance, but to an overload of the executive system.
On the other hand, the effects on the nervous system seem to be consistent with personality.In users with high levels of impulsivity, novelty seeking, or low tolerance, neurocognitive effects are greater.The most important characteristic is the character trait, which is understood as a stable habit of experiencing discomfort when faced with the success of others.Other studies have found that this trait predicts greater addiction to short videos, which correlates with the activity of areas involved in self-expression and emotional processing.This shows that compulsive use is not limited to the pursuit of entertainment, but also responds to the ineffectiveness of the social comparison process.
Structural neuroimaging studies have found changes in the orbitofrontal cortex of users with problematic consumption of short videos.Specifically, there was an increase in gray matter volume in this region, as well as in the bilateral cerebellum, which is involved in decision-making, impulse control, and emotional regulation.These increases may reflect compensatory neuroplasticity processes or structural hyperactivation caused by repeated dopaminergic reinforcement associated with the high stimulatory content of these platforms.
On the functional level; dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; precuneus posterior cingulate cortex; Hyperactivity is observed in remaining regions such as the cerebellum and posterior temporal cortex, all of which are linked to executive functions and emotion regulation.This hyperactivation may represent an increased demand for self-regulation or a compensatory response to functional deficits. In addition, Brain connectivity studies indicate a possible reorganization: networks involved in executive control, such as frontoparietal, may show less activation or efficiency, while the original network tends to become more active in resting conditions.
Several recent transcriptomic approaches have determined the representation of genes active during adolescence and in excitatory neurons in the cerebellum, indicating a particular vulnerability at this developmental stage.These results show that the effects extend beyond the functional level to the structural and molecular levels.However, it is important to understand the methodological limitations of many of these studies: The small number of trials based on cross-sectional and self-reported design with many confounding factors (sleep hours, etc.).Therefore, although neurobiological mechanisms are well established, causality cannot be determined from many studies.
Conclusions Clinical relevance and social implications
The easiest way we can explain the brain is to understand that it is changing, which means that neurons reconfigure themselves according to the thoughts they receive and the tasks they have to do, especially in childhood and adolescence.If the brain receives various and fast stimuli all the time, it is reconfigured to respond to these types of stimuli suddenly.Do yourself to improve your work on the work of good listening and deep thinking.This affects cognitive development, management control, the ability to have long-term goals and important goals for a person's life, etc.
Short videos are not neutral formats and they represent not only a change in consumption style, but rather a deep reconfiguration of attention systems, reward dispositions and executive functions license, reward disputipality to negotiateEffects.In the cases, a functional reorganization is noted that reinforces impulsivity, the search for immediate satisfaction and attention fragmentation.
Immediate and repeated audiovisual rewards create changes in the nervous system that can harm a person's ability to present important long-term goals.
But it also affects the ability to control emotions, building human character, social skills, etc.If this idea of immediate motivation establishes itself as the main way to be satisfied and avoid emotions, understanding, behaviors and controlled behaviors in a short time are fixed.
Loss of inhibitory control, a key component of executive functioning, affects academic performance, emotional regulation, and prevention of problem behaviors.It threatens not only individual and intellectual autonomy, but also integration into the educational, work and social context.However, it is quite difficult to control the use of all the digital structure that has been imposed on people.
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