Watching TikTok and Instagram deactivates the cognitive control network: Study
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Watching liked short videos deactivates brain regions for cognitive control, per fMRI study.
Researchers at Zhejiang University used fMRI to scan 56 young adults watching short clips. When participants watched videos they liked and finished, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) showed significant deactivation. Higher resting glutamate in the dACC predicted less suppression. dACC-dlPFC connectivity increased more during liked videos. The authors argue the deactivation reflects a shift to low-effort processing, not impaired control, and note limitations including lack of addiction assessment and a young, mostly male sample.
The study was published in NeuroImage in January 2026.
What commenters are saying
Commenters express strong concern that short-form video platforms are a neurochemical threat, comparing them to leaded gasoline and paint. Some argue regulation is essential, suggesting time limits or bans, while others debate the difficulty of defining "short-form content" and enforcing rules.
A subthread discusses reward hacking mechanisms across platforms, citing a 2018 claim that Instagram withholds likes to drive engagement, though later sources question this. Another commenter notes the mechanism may be similar to blipverts from Max Headroom, and one user posits the brain's default mode network activates during zoning out.