Short form content addiction and how it will make your sperm stupid

Disclaimer - The headline is click bait, your sperm is fine, don’t worry, I guess, micro plastics might be a leading factor for male infertility.

I feel embarrassed to admit that I’m addicted to short form content, I spend most of my time scrolling on twitter. I also spend a lot of time on youtube shorts, I don’t use Instagram because I find that platform repulsive and too wholesome for my taste. You see I am a hater and I don’t like seeing people happy (even if it is just pretend happy) (No, I don’t think I am holier than thou for not using instagram, if I had a social life worth clicking photos of I’d also be there)

Anyway, coming back to short form content and what makes it more desirable. I think it is the dopamine delivery - if you observe closely then all of short form content is about that “gotcha“. Example, a prank, a joke, a highly improbable event, cats meowing, dogs making the confused face. One would not watch a 10 minute video just to see a cat meowing. I think the audience for short form video and long form video differs, the short form content consumers are there for entertainment. But what they get is entertainment plus brain rot.

Our attention spans are already fucked up, short form content adds to the misery. I some times find myself on the same spectrum of idiocracy, I know the series is good but I don’t want to commit to it because it will take a lot of time.

The “gotchas“ give you a dopamine hit or an instant laugh. It makes for good entertainment you see., Imagine, you watch an hour long video and there are 4 scenes that trigger a dopamine release, but now you have 10-15 second videos which deliver dopamine release. What would you prefer and get addicted to?

Social media is all about engagement rates - with short form content the engagement rate increases and that’s why platforms are incentivising short form content and pushing it more. Adults can maybe cope with this. The kids won’t be able to. You are introducing them to instant dopamine mine and then you expect them to be able to read 500 page books. Sigh.

Is there a solution? Maybe. Block the short for content. But can you do that? I am not sure about that.

Addiction has only one solution. Get rid of what you are addicted to. So yes, a way to block shorts from yt, a way to block reels from instagram, a way to tiktok..wait…thanks to Modiji we don’t have to deal with that brain rot anymore. Vishwaguru ftw.

We need to somehow incentivise long form content, some of my peers who are way more smarter than me engage with long form content more than short form content because as I said the audience is different! I am not generalising. But it is what it is. One sometimes need brain rot to go through life and I am not saying that watching short form content is a sin, not at all. But maybe be self aware that it is destroying your ability to focus?

Inculcate reading into your life, or play a sport regularly, that might fill the void in your life. Also don’t be ashamed to reach out for help. I think I have fulfilled my quota of writing today. So I’ll leave it here. Hope you have good week ahead.