Open Access

ARTICLE

Potential Effect of Short Video Usage Intensity on Short Video Addiction, Perceived Mood Enhancement (‘TikTok Brain’), and Attention Control among Chinese Adolescents

Jian-Hong Ye^1,2, Junpeng Zheng³, Weiguaju Nong⁴, Xiantong Yang^5,*

1 Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
2 National Institute of Vocational Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
3 Publicity Department, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315211, China
4 School of Education, Guangxi University of Foreign Languages, Nanning, 530222, China
5 Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

* Corresponding Author: Xiantong Yang. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Understanding Various Addictive Behaviors in the Digital Era: Types, Prevalence, Predictors, Mechanisms, and Health Consequences)

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2025, 27(3), 271-286. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2025.059929

Received 20 October 2024; Accepted 13 February 2025; Issue published 31 March 2025

Abstract

Objectives: Short video addiction has emerged as a significant public health issue in recent years, with a growing trend toward severity. However, research on the causes and impacts of short video addiction remains limited, and understanding of the variable “TikTok brain” is still in its infancy. Therefore, based on the Stimulus-Organism-Behavior-Consequence (SOBC) framework, we proposed six research hypotheses and constructed a model to explore the relationships between short video usage intensity, TikTok brain, short video addiction, and decreased attention control. Methods: Given that students are considered a high-risk group for excessive short video use, we collected 1086 valid participants from Chinese student users, including 609 males (56.1%) and 477 females (43.9%), with an average participant age of 19.84 years, to test the hypotheses. Results: (1) Short video usage intensity was positively related to short video addiction, TikTok brain, and decreased attention control; (2) TikTok brain was positively related to short video addiction and decreased attention control; and (3) Short video addiction was positively related to decreased attention control. Conclusions: These findings suggest that although excessive use of short video applications brings negative consequences, users still spend significant amounts of time on these platforms, indicating a need for strict self-regulation of usage time.

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Keywords

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