Many people get into their phones when they’re bored, then scroll through social media in the hopes of alleviating that boredom. But new research suggests that swiping from video to video might increase boredom, not alleviate it.
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Many people get into their phones when they’re bored, then scroll through social media in the hopes of alleviating that boredom. But new research suggests that swiping from video to video might increase boredom, not alleviate it.
Tippapatt/Getty Images
Have you ever scrolled through a TikTok video without finishing it? Switched between YouTube videos halfway through one or the other? Fast-forwarded a Netflix episode that just wasn’t holding your interest?
That habit is called “digital switching” — and it might be making your boredom worse.
At least, that’s what Katy Tam, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, found from her own scrolling.
“I realized that I wasn’t truly enjoying or engaging with the content,” said Tam. “That made me wonder how this behavior actually affects our feelings of boredom.”
In a new study published Monday in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Tam and her colleagues set up seven psychological experiments to study the connection between boredom and digital switching.
In one experiment, participants who were allowed to freely switch between seven different videos and then rated their experience as less satisfying, less absorbing, and less meaningful than participants who watched a 10 minute video in full. Tam likens the difference to watching a film at the movie theater rather than at home: If you’re constantly switching back and forth, you’re effectively distracting yourself, whereas when you’re fully immersed in a single experience, you might be more likely to appreciate it.
So the next time you’re feeling bored on TikTok or YouTube, try letting the video you watch play all the way through.
Who knows? It might be more interesting than you think.
Interested in hearing more psychology news? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to Short Wave on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
This episode was produced by Tyler Bartlam and Hannah Chinn. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez and Christopher Intagliata. Rebecca, Emily, Hannah and Regina checked the facts. The audio engineer was Ko Takasugi-Czernowin.
