Written by: Anna Gegovic
You pick up your phone to check the time and then decide to open TikTok. You do not know why, you simply do. From there, you see a funny video, perhaps relatable, perhaps not, but now you want to see another, so you scroll. You go to the next video, and maybe it’s not as funny as the first, but you go in thinking it can match the joy you felt laughing at the first. And so a cycle begins.
Now pause. Wait. You need to be studying right now. Why are you on TikTok? Lock in!
Within recent years, “doom-scrolling” has become a common term among Gen Z. The word first appeared during the early COVID-19 pandemic, when people spent hours scrolling through mostly negative news (Leskin, 2020). The term can also mean spending rather long or “doom” amounts of time on a platform, which a person kind of gets stuck in. Today, TikTok, Instagram reels, and YouTube shorts are large media platforms where users spend time scrolling.
These platforms manage to capture the full attention of the individual during the time they spend watching, which begs the question of how?
According to Herbert Simon, “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it” (Herbert, 1971). That is, attention should be treated as a scarce resource. Thomas Davenport and John Beck further develop this concept–that in an attention economy, attention is focused mental engagement on a particular item of information (Davenport & Beck, 20). They break down attention into six types, two of them classified as aversive and attractive attention. Individuals pay attention to certain things to avoid negative experiences (aversive attention) and pay attention to other things they think will bring positive experiences (attractive attention) (Davenport and Beck, 23). Short-form video platforms elicit both types. A funny or relatable video pulls attention in through a positive reaction. The next swipe might show upsetting news, which grabs attention through a negative reaction.
Applying this framework, short-form content platforms compete directly for the user’s attention. However, attention alone does not fully explain why people get stuck scrolling. In order to explain what is happening within the brain during this type of decision-making, we must utilize neuroeconomics, the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and economics, to show how the brain responds to rewards. This includes how individuals compute the subjective utility of options they have in the moment, and how it influences the next action they take.
Key to this is the function of dopamine within the brain. Wolfram Schultz explains that dopamine signals a reward prediction error, the difference between what you expect and what actually happens (Schultz, 2016). When something is better than expected, dopamine increases. When it is worse than expected or does not happen, dopamine decreases. When the outcome matches the expectation, dopamine stays the same. Schultz describes this as the brain’s learning signal. Subsequently, once a reward becomes familiar, the dopamine responses fade. To get the same dopamine “lift,” the brain needs something new or more rewarding. Schultz calls dopamine neurons “little devils” because they push us to want the next thing, and then something even better, since the same reward no longer creates the same response. This pattern helps explain why people often keep seeking new stimuli.
Short-form videos follow this same pattern. Every time the user swipes, the new video acts as an unpredictable outcome. The videos deliver a constant stream of new rewards, which makes the scrolling hard to break.
These platforms are designed to keep the user constantly engaged. A recent study cross-examined TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. They found that TikTok scored the highest across three key features: it required less effort to use, the content felt more engaging, and the videos often surprised users with new, unexpected content (Roberts & David, 2025). These features made users stay on the platform longer and were directly linked to more addictive use. Along with these features, TikTok also implements an algorithm that is constantly learning the users’ preferences, showing them the content they keep scrolling for. This algorithm improves with more user activity (Zhao, 2021). It is described as a closed loop: the more a person uses the app, the more accurate the algorithm becomes, and the more likely the user is to continue scrolling.
It really is a perfect design, tailored to the user. This raises the question of what the cost is for the individual. For many, the cost is time—or more specifically, the attention and focus that slip away while scrolling.
References
Chinthaka, G. (2025, March 3). Dopamine: The Brain’s Motivation Molecule and Its Impact on Behavior – Tute Bucket. Tute Bucket. https://tutebucket.com/dopamine-the-brains-motivation-molecule/
Davenport, T. H., & Beck, J. C. (2002). The attention economy : understanding the new currency of business. Harvard Business School ; London.
https://books.google.so/books?id=j6z-MiUKgosC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Leskin, P. (2020, April 19). Staying up late reading scary news? There’s a word for that: “Doomscrolling.” Business Insider.
Roberts, J. A., & David, M. E. (2025). Technology Affordances, Social Media Engagement, and Social Media Addiction: An Investigation of TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 28(5), 318–325. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2024.0338
Simon, Herbert A (1971). Designing Organizations for an Information-rich World. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 37–52.
Schultz, W. (2016). Dopamine reward prediction error coding. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 18(1), 23–32.
https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2016.18.1/wschultz
Tasha. (2025, January 18). Social Media Engagement: Strategies for authentic online connections. Newman Web Solutions Agency. https://www.newmanwebsolutions.com/blog/increase-social-media-engagement/
Zhao, Z. (2021). Analysis on the “Douyin (Tiktok) Mania” Phenomenon Based on Recommendation Algorithms. E3S Web of Conferences, 235. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202123503029