Are social media feeds the new ultraprocessed foods?
Industry Buzz
It might be too early to claim universal doom. The research for alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs took 75 years or more to develop. But I would be surprised if, in the next five to 10 years, we do not have similar signs validating the moral panic that we have around short-form videos.
—Nidhi Gupta, MD
Prolonged consumption of such content may primarily engage the lower-order cortical brain regions, such as those associated with emotional processing, and suppress activity in higher-order areas responsible for self-control and attention.
—Authors, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience article
Scrolling through an infinite loop of short-form videos on social media has become a daily habit for many patients, much like ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have become a staple of the modern American diet. Emerging research suggests that both may be engineered to maximize reward and repeated use.
The overlap is particularly relevant this month, as we celebrate National Nutrition Month: A time when clinicians often focus on improving patients’ dietary habits. Researchers say the same behavioral dynamics that make ultra-processed foods difficult to moderate—high reward, constant availability, and engineered stimulation—may also apply to digital media consumption.
A study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience finds that consuming short-form videos leads to a significant decline in cognitive function, attention, and self-control.[]
Individuals who regularly consume short-form videos on their phones have dramatically worse cognitive and emotional health across measures like basic thinking; paying attention; exerting self-control; and experiencing anxiety, depression, and stress.[]
Related: How to help your patients realize that they need a dopamine detoxA 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis published in Psychological Bulletin similarly found that increased short-form video use—on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram—was associated with poorer cognition, self-control, and attention.[]
"Repeated exposure to highly stimulating, fast-paced content may lead to habituation, wherein users become desensitized to slower, more cognitively demanding tasks such as reading, problem solving, or deep learning," the authors wrote.[]
Much like UPFs are engineered to heighten reward responses, driving compulsive consumption and disrupting appetite regulation, short-form videos are designed to keep us scrolling.[]
Being mindful about diet and media habits can help support better physical and cognitive health.
When food and feeds hook us
The Frontiers in Human Neuroscience study found that people with a higher tendency toward short-form video addiction showed lower neural activity linked to the brain’s executive control network in the frontal lobe.[] This suggests that heavier use of short-form, scrollable content may be associated with weaker executive control.
"Short-form videos, being self-stimulating and content-rich, capture attention with minimal psychological effort," the authors wrote.[] "Prolonged consumption of such content may primarily engage the lower-order cortical brain regions, such as those associated with emotional processing, and suppress activity in higher-order areas responsible for self-control and attention."
Related: The psychiatric dangers of social mediaMuch like addiction to short-form video consumption, a growing body of research suggests that people have difficulty moderating their intake of UPFs, often describing behaviors associated with addiction.[]
The researchers compare the addictive qualities—and design—of UPFs with tobacco. More research is needed to determine similarities between UPF "addiction" and short-form video addiction.
In brief: The links between highly-processed content and UPFs
Shared influence on reward and self-control systems: Higher short-video addiction tendencies are linked to reduced prefrontal activity tied to executive control. Similarly, UPFs may stimulate reward pathways and drive compulsive consumption.
Product design that encourages repeated engagement: Short-form video platforms use fast, engaging content to keep users scrolling, while UPFs are engineered with optimized ingredients and flavors to drive repeated consumption.
Potential effects on behavior and habit formation: Greater short-video addiction tendency was associated with lower self-control, while highly engineered foods may contribute to habitual overeating and loss of control.
What this means for the clinic
With short-form video now a dominant form of media consumption, clinicians may increasingly field questions about potential cognitive effects of constant scrolling—and how patients can moderate use.
Screen for short-form video use. Ask about digital media habits during routine visits, particularly in patients with attention problems, poor sleep, or heavy social media use.
Explain the attention impact. Rapid, constantly changing content can make sustained focus more difficult, and heavy use of short-form videos has been associated with attention deficits.[]
Promote intentional screen use. Encourage simple strategies such as disabling autoplay, setting app limits, or scheduling screen-free periods to reduce compulsive scrolling.[]
Address broader lifestyle factors. Excessive screen use often overlaps with stress, poor sleep, and low physical activity—areas clinicians can target with routine lifestyle counseling.
"It might be too early to claim universal doom. The research for alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs took 75 years or more to develop,” Nidhi Gupta, MD, a pediatric endocrinologist, told NBC News. “But I would be surprised if, in the next five to 10 years, we do not have similar signs validating the moral panic that we have around short-form videos."[]