Study reveals how swiping through videos to rid off boredom doesn’t work

Swiping through videos on digital media fragments our attention and makes our boredom worse. A new study sheds light.

It’s a common habit for us all – when we get bored, we take our phones out and start scrolling through videos. The infinite content available online makes it easier for us to have access to the type of content we want to watch. Sometimes, the applications fix the algorithms based on our watching habits. This makes it difficult for us to come out of the loop of scrolling through videos. It is usually seen as a habit to kill boredom – however, a recent study states that it can make our boredom worse.

The research was done by the University of Toronto to study the interesting habit of people to watch entertaining videos as a way of killing boredom. However, the study showed that this habit can end up intensifying boredom. Katy Tam, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Toronto and lead author of the study, said that the way to gain entertainment from watching videos and not end up intensifying our boredom is by staying focused on the content and minimising digital switching.

What is digital switching?

Digital platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Netflix have revolutionised how we consume content. In these applications, people go through short videos which may or may not capture their attention. Sometimes, people scroll through videos to find something interesting and stimulating. This habit – also known as digital switching – instead of killing boredom, can make it worse.

The study further noted that immersion in a single content is a lot more enjoyable than keeping on switching through contents. The results show digital switching can lead to increased boredom, decreased satisfaction, lower attention, and a reduced sense of meaning.

How digital switching can trigger boredom

When we scroll through digital content, we end up skipping the boring parts – by that logic, we should be killing boredom effectively. However, that’s not the case because boredom is intricately linked with attention. When we are completely immersed in viewing a single content, we are focused, and we find it meaningful. However, meaningless scrolling fragments our attention span and makes us feel more bored.