Skipping and fast-forwarding videos leads to boredom: study

According to a new study, people are more likely to get bored if they switch to another video or rewind or fast forward while watching the same video.

Dr. Katy Tam of the University of Toronto Scarborough, the lead author of the study, wrote in Journal of Experimental Psychology that boredom is closely related to attention.

“We get bored when there's a gap between our engagement and the engagement we'd like to have,” she said. “When people are constantly switching between videos, they lose interest in the videos and look for something more interesting. That can lead to increased boredom.”

Dr. Tam and her colleagues reiterate previous research suggesting that the same use of technology to avoid or combat boredom makes the feeling worse.

Tam also wrote in the journal that it can be worth watching videos to the end or taking your time before fast-forwarding or skipping them entirely to stay focused and avoid boredom.

“Our research shows that people fast-forward or skip videos to avoid boredom, but this behavior can cause them to become even more bored,” she said. “Just as we pay for an immersive experience at the cinema, the fun often comes from immersing ourselves in videos rather than swiping through them.”