The Rise of Bite-Sized Content
In today’s fast-paced digital age, platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels have become a staple of online interaction. These quick, engaging videos promise fun, entertainment, and instant gratification. But as someone with ADHD and a homeschooling mom raising neurodivergent children, I’ve noticed the profound effects these videos have not only on focus but on our ability to engage with deeper, more meaningful tasks, like reading books or completing projects.
By recognizing that short attention spans affect everyone, we can work on creating healthier screen time habits that help everyone focus better and avoid distractions, no matter how our brains are wired.
So, how do these platforms affect our ADHD brains? Let’s explore the science and the strategies we can use to manage their impact.
Why Are Reels and TikToks So Addictive?
Dopamine Hits and Instant Gratification
Every time we watch a short, funny clip or emotionally engaging reel, our brains release dopamine: the “feel-good” chemical. This instant reward creates a loop, encouraging us to keep scrolling in search of that next hit.
Infinite Scrolling and Autoplay
The endless scroll and autoplay features keep us glued to the screen. It’s engineered to maintain our attention and prevent us from stopping, making it harder to resist the pull.
Rapid Topic Changes
With videos ranging from 15 to 60 seconds, these platforms often jump from one topic to another, requiring us to quickly process new information. This stimulation is exciting but tires our cognitive resources, especially in those of us with ADHD.
How Short-Form Videos Affect ADHD Brains
Increased Distractibility
ADHD is often defined by a difficulty filtering distractions. The constant barrage of stimuli from these videos makes it even harder to focus on longer tasks, perpetuating a cycle of rapid attention shifts.
Difficulty Returning to Lengthy Tasks
Studies show that frequent interruptions, such as checking social media, make it harder for ADHD brains to re-engage with tasks that require sustained focus. The more we interrupt ourselves, the harder it is to return to more complex tasks like reading or solving problems.
Harm to Working Memory and Attention
The fast-paced nature of short-form videos can overwhelm the brain’s working memory, making it difficult to retain and apply information effectively.
Long-Term Consequences of Overexposure
Reduced Attention Span
Frequent exposure to fast-paced content trains the brain to seek out rapid rewards, reducing our ability to engage in slower, more focused activities like reading or deep work.
Difficulty Engaging with Deep Work
Engaging with tasks requiring sustained attention, such as reading books or completing projects, can feel frustrating or even impossible when we’re conditioned for quick stimuli.
Disrupted Sleep and Emotional Regulation
Excessive late-night scrolling can interfere with sleep, further exacerbating emotional dysregulation: an issue already common among those with ADHD.
Practical Strategies for Managing Short-Form Content
Here’s how I’ve learned to balance screen time in my ADHD family:
Avoid Short Reels Entirely
I personally avoid TikToks and Reels because I know they hinder my focus. Instead, I choose activities that promote deep thinking, like reading, journaling, or engaging in longer, more enriching media.
Set Clear Boundaries
When short reels are unavoidable, I use timers or apps that limit my screen time, ensuring I don’t fall into the endless scrolling trap.
Promote Longer Attention Spans
I encourage replacing short-form reels with longer forms of content, such as audiobooks, podcasts, or in-depth YouTube discussions that provide more value and require sustained attention. This helps prevent our ADHD brains from worsening over time due to the overstimulation from quick, fleeting content like reels.
Teach Intentional Screen Use to Kids
For my ADHD children, I often break their educational videos into smaller chunks to make them more digestible. However, I also prioritize longer, more thought-provoking activities over quick entertainment. While I do allow for audiobooks and occasional screen time, I steer clear of apps or content that offer only brief summaries or entertainment, as I want to foster patience and focus in them.
Protecting Our Attention in a Distracting World
Short-form videos might seem harmless, but their addictive nature poses a real risk to our ability to focus deeply. By understanding how they impact our brains and implementing practical strategies to reduce their influence, we can begin to reclaim our attention and guide our children in doing the same.
For ADHD brains, protecting focus is more than just relying on willpower, it’s about creating an environment that supports deep engagement and long-term growth. Let’s prioritize meaningful activities and limit the distractions engineered to pull us in.
Breaking Tasks into Chunks: A Strategy for ADHD Brains
Breaking tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks is a proven strategy for ADHD brains. This approach is different from the rapid stimuli provided by TikToks or Reels. Instead of overwhelming the brain with quick bursts of information, we offer focused periods of engagement that promote deeper processing and understanding.
For example, when teaching my children, I break lessons into smaller pieces that feel achievable. Whether it’s reading a few pages of a book or solving a single math problem, the focus is on manageable steps rather than overwhelming them with lengthy sessions. We have our trackers.
Strength-Based Approach: Leveraging Interests to Engage ADHD Learners
Breaking tasks into chunks is not just about managing attention: it’s also about tapping into my daughter’s natural interests to make learning more engaging. For example, my daughter loves science and animals, so I introduced a science comic series that discusses animals in-depth. This approach helped her stay engaged longer. Recently, we managed to extend her focus to 30 minutes on a topic she loves. By incorporating her passions, we keep her excited to learn.
This method works differently from watching Reels because it fosters sustained engagement aligned with her interests, allowing for deep involvement and enjoyment. When learning is fun and relevant to her, she stays focused and engaged much longer.
Balancing Patience and Growth: Gradually Extending Attention Spans
While breaking tasks into smaller chunks is effective for ADHD brains, it’s also important to challenge ourselves and our children to gradually extend attention spans over time. Some days, I emphasize shorter bursts of focused work, while other days, I gently encourage persistence with longer, more complex tasks. This balance mirrors the dedication of Islamic scholars from the past, who engaged with lengthy books and studies, an approach I aim to cultivate in my children.
By nurturing this balance, we can train our brains to sustain focus over time, preparing us for both academic challenges and life experiences, without overwhelming our emotional well-being.
Short Attention Spans: A Common Challenge, Not Just for ADHD
It’s important to understand that short attention spans aren’t an issue exclusive to people with ADHD. Even people without ADHD (referred to as neurotypicals) can struggle with focus due to the constant flow of quick, short content like TikToks and Reels. These videos are designed to grab attention instantly, which makes it harder to stay focused on longer tasks. This could explain why younger generations are seeing an increase in ADHD diagnoses. But why is this happening? Is it due to better awareness and more diagnoses of undiagnosed childhood ADHD, or is it because our modern digital environment is worsening attention issues, even for those who didn’t have them before?
For those of us who have had ADHD since childhood: long before smartphones and the internet became widespread, and for our little ones who have never used social media or owned a smartphone, this issue is even more intense! Our brains naturally struggle to focus and filter out distractions. However, this doesn’t mean social media causes ADHD. ADHD is something we’re born with, not something created by technology. We’re simply trying to protect our already busy brains from overstimulation.
For more details, you can explore the findings in these studies from Stanford University and Frontiers in Psychology:
