Harmful Effect of Short-form Media

 written by 20104 Kim Soyeon

Have you ever seen short-form media? Short-form media (short-form) generally refers to content that is at or under a minute long.

TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels are the most typical examples of short-form. As you can see, short-form has become a mainstream medium and suddenly appeared on many people’s favorite social networks.

However, we need to learn more about the dangers of short-form. The three short-form platforms have different features from each other.

TikTok is essentially for short-form only. Shorts can function as a preview of long-form on YouTube. Reels are one of Instagram’s features, and you can share them by sending direct messages.

Short-form video content is all the rage these days. However, the big problem is that if you watch this type of video too much, you can be addicted to short-form.

The short-form’s feature is that the video is short and stimulating. It doesn’t need much concentration. Watching short, stimulating videos provokes that situation you just find again and again more stimulating videos.

Short-form addiction can act seriously to various people because it is hard to reduce and quit. Also, short-form can be seen whenever you turn on your cell phone.

In this background, we have to regard this short-form problem as a global problem. It is not just a specific country’s problem because of the spreading capacity and connectivity of the short-form.

Relating to this, one bill was proposed in Korea on August 14, 2024. The bill focused on setting daily limits on the use of social media such as YouTube,

Instagram and TikTok for those under the age of 16 to prevent young people from becoming addicted to social media.

Globally, in 2023, TikTok set the limit of hours of use as 60 minutes for those under the age of 18, minors.

TikTok said it is one of the efforts that minors can have the alarming of short-form addiction.

Globally, some efforts are regulating short-form. But it is at the starting point. Also, TikTok’s 60-minute limit policy is controversial because of its effectiveness. Now, the company is struggling to clear regulations.

So, we have to set solutions for the short-form, not just think that it is only for enjoyment. Up to now, the clear restriction to short-form is nonexistent. From now on, we have to attend to this type of media and set the regulation subject as the active consumer of short-form.

The toxicity and the reduction of concentration are not the problems of particular countries but a global problem.

We have to consider the psychological effects on global teenagers and adults due to the use of short-form media. It is time to set global regulations and service instructions for short-form media.

Beyond the individual actions of each country, through international organizations like WHO, we need protective measures to prevent global short-form addictions.