The videos you browse to pass the time might actually cause more boredom

Endlessly watching YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and TikTok videos is a way for millions of people, especially young people, to stave off boredom. But a new study has found that jumping from one video to the next actually causes boredom.

Digital switching is when people switch back and forth between videos or fast-forward through them on platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Netflix. The University of Toronto study found that this switching behavior “leads people to feeling more bored, dissatisfied, less engaged and, in some cases, less meaningful.”

The evaluation was based on the assumption that switching from one content to another is a laborious process that tires the attention span. Boredom is directly linked to attention: it is the discrepancy between what one wants to do or where one wants to be and reality.

“When people constantly switch between videos, they lose interest in the videos and look for something more interesting. This can lead to increased boredom,” The Guardian newspaper quoted Dr. Katy Tam of the University of Toronto Scarborough, the lead author of the study, as saying.

This is the conclusion reached by the study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General after experiments with 1,200 participants who were shown videos and answered questions about boredom.

An experiment with 140 participants found that people were more likely to switch between videos when they found the content to be more boring.

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“We found a bidirectional, causal relationship between boredom and digital
Switching. When participants were bored, they switched, believing that switching would help them avoid boredom,” the study said.

It turned out that switching between videos – or within a video – not only led to more boredom, but also to lower satisfaction, reduced attention and less meaning.

Even when participants had the freedom to watch videos of their choice and interest on YouTube, switching to digital channels increased boredom, the study found.

“Our results suggest that attempts to avoid boredom by switching digitally sometimes inadvertently make it worse,” the authors said.

People of different ages, the study says, may have different habits when it comes to watching and switching between videos. “How people consume videos and how this affects boredom may vary depending on age and digital media habits,” the study says. Further research is needed to investigate this aspect.

So what’s the best way to enjoy videos while avoiding boredom?

“Just as we pay for an immersive experience in the cinema, the fun often comes from immersing ourselves in videos rather than simply swiping through them,” Tan said.

(With contributions from agencies)