Overuse of TikTok and Instagram causes brain rot

People who use platforms such as TikTok and Instagram frequently are at risk of a decline in cognitive performance.

Excessive use of TikTok and Instagram damages brain performance.

A study of over 98,000 participants across 71 pieces of research found that an individual’s cognitive performance is harmed if they watch more short-form content that is common on the social media platforms.

Boffins found that “repeated exposure to highly stimulating, fast-paced content may contribute to habituation, in which users become desensitised to slower, more effortful cognitive tasks such as reading, problem solving, or deep learning”.

In summary, researchers say it can cause brain rot.

The study concluded that short-form video use was “associated with poorer cognition (attention, inhibitory control, language, memory and working memory) and most mental health indices except body image and self-esteem”.

The experts also connected the consumption of short-form video content to negative impacts on mental health, including increased stress and anxiety.

They said: “The continuous cycle of swiping and receiving new, emotionally stimulating content has been proposed to trigger dopamine release, creating a reinforcement loop that contributes to patterns of habitual use and greater emotional reliance on digital interactions.

“This habitual engagement may also be associated with heightened stress and anxiety, as some users report difficulties disengaging and regulating their emotions in offline settings.”

The study also suggested that excessive viewing of short-form videos can contribute to social isolation and lower overall life satisfaction.

It claims that use of the apps is “linked to increased social isolation by replacing real-world interactions with passive digital engagement, exacerbating feelings of loneliness”.

The experts add that “such reliance on online interactions has also been correlated with lower life satisfaction”.

This isn’t the first time that technology has been pinpointed as the cause of cognitive decline.

A study on students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered that those who had used the AI tool ChatGPT to write an essay showed far less brain activity and were unable to remember a single sentence that they had written.