An international team of researchers has successfully established a correlation between frequent viewing of vertical videos and everyday memory and attention lapses. This study’s findings were published in the journal Addictive Behaviors Reports (ABR).
The research was conducted by specialists from the Centre for Cognitive Sciences at the University of Macau, in collaboration with colleagues from Germany and China. These scientists aimed to understand how psychological states influence digital habits, and subsequently, how those habits manifest in tangible, real-life consequences.
The phenomenon of FoMO—the Fear of Missing Out on important events in the lives of others—drew significant attention from the academics. The psychologists differentiated between two manifestations of this fear: a stable personality trait and a situational state that often arises, for example, upon receiving notifications.
Furthermore, the investigators examined what are commonly termed “everyday cognitive failures,” such as bouts of forgetfulness, loss of focus, and inattention when performing routine activities.
The study incorporated 720 German TikTok users (comprising 249 males and 471 females, with an average age of 38). Participants completed questionnaires designed to gauge their anxiety levels, the frequency of app usage, and the incidence of cognitive disruptions they experienced.
The resulting data clearly indicated a link: higher levels of FoMO corresponded with an increased frequency of everyday mistakes. Notably, the excessive use of TikTok played the primary role here, acting as the intermediary “bridge” between anxiety and the subsequent decline in mental function.
The experts caution that incessantly checking the application fragments attention, which ultimately depletes cognitive resources. Consequently, an individual loses the capacity for genuine task concentration, leading directly to forgetfulness and diminished productivity.
In the context of TikTok, the trait-like aspect of FoMO—that is, a person’s general predisposition toward anxiety and the drive not to miss anything—proved more significant than the temporary, situational state. The authors attribute the root of this issue to the specific nature of the platform: its endless stream of short videos and personalized recommendations engage deeper psychological mechanisms, pulling the user further in.
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