‘Like a personalized slot machine’: Psychologist on risks from short form videos to your brain function

Researchers are exploring the impacts of short form video on our brain function. Child psychologist Tania Johnson shares her insight.

Mental health risks of social media have been discussed and at some points, debated for years, but there’s a new category of study for researchers. Short form videos like TikTok or Instagram reels can pose their own specific threats to brain function. Child psychologist Tania Johnson joined CTV Your Morning Edmonton’s Kent Morrison on why there’s potential risks.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Kent Morrison: Why is this different from traditional social media?

Tania Johnson: Short form video is super fast. It’s algorithm driven and it’s emotionally charged. When we look at the speed, it’s really training our children’s brain to constantly expect novelty. We’re waiting for that next hit all of the time. With the algorithm, it’s like a personalized slot machine. Whatever we looked for before, it serves us content that really speaks to our fears, our worries, our density, our sense of humour and it feels like it deeply knows us. Then that emotional roller coaster we go from happy to sad to angry to inspired within seconds, with no real place for our nervous system to land.

Kent: What does this do on the inside as we’re scrolling through all this and just getting hit with all this action at once?

Tania: What we’re seeing is that lots of kids no longer know how to do real world things, so they feel bored when they go for a walk or they play a board game and they’re looking for that stimulation all of the time. Where is that next hit coming from?

Lots of parents and studies are showing the same thing, that their kids are emotionally volatile and irritable after scrolling all of the time. Then the last one is, for many of our children, they just kind of flip through life. It’s really shallow without learning those deep skills like regulation. How do we sit with uncomfortable feelings? How do we process those feelings? We’re seeing coping skills being replaced by quick dopamine hits.

Kent: What do we do about it?

Tania: First of all, it’s really, really important that we know what’s happening with the brain. There’s two critical periods of development.

The first one is in those infancy years and we call it “the blooming.” This is where all of those neural connections are being created and we’re super aware of that period as adults. We do lots to try and work with our kids like lots of real world activities.

The second really critical period (it’s the only other time that we’re this vulnerable in terms of brain development,) is in the tween-teen years. We call it “The Great Re-wiring.” First, we have “The Blooming” when they’re little. Now, we have the pruning.

This is when connections get strengthened or get pruned away if we’re not using certain skills. When our kids are spending hours going through these videos, we see that the lower parts of their brain get strengthened, the parts that are responsible for instant gratification and speed, potentially compromising the parts that we really need like deep learning, focus and regulation.

Kent: What do we do exactly?

Tania: As a therapist, I would say delay those personal devices for as long as you can protect those brains. There are grassroot movements like Unplugged Canada, which can show parents how they actually do that.

The second is to have real conversations with your kids about tech and the impact of tech. In the clinic, many parents will say to us, “Tania, we don’t really know what to ask.” There are cards that I use all of the time called Raising Digital Citizens.

Use a set of cards. Use something structured if you have to because if you don’t know, you don’t know as a parent. The other thing is to create friction. Get those phones out of bedrooms and set limits.

Lastly, intentionally prioritize dopamine offline. Go for walks, play and move your bodies. Be intentional about saying, “We want to be part of a life and a world that’s slow and messy and gradually unfolds offline.”