ADHD and Short-Form Video: Why Five Minutes Can Turn Into an Hour

If you have ADHD, you may have experienced the slightly frustrating situation where you pick up your phone to check one thing, watch a quick video, and somehow find yourself still scrolling an hour later wondering where the time has gone. I am guilty of doing it myself!

There is something particularly compelling about short-form video when you have ADHD because there is a constant stream of novelty, with something new appearing every few seconds, and very little effort required to decide what to watch next. You don't even have to look for something interesting because the algorithm is continually finding the next video for you.

Why is short-form video so appealing with ADHD?

ADHD is often associated with a need for stimulation, novelty, and things that capture our interest, so it isn't particularly surprising that scrolling through an endless stream of short videos can be so engaging.

The problem is that there isn't really a natural stopping point. You might watch a video because it looks interesting, then another one catches your attention, and then another, and before you know it, you've watched dozens of them without ever consciously deciding that you were going to spend the next hour doing so.

This can be particularly difficult when you were supposed to be doing something else; perhaps you picked up your phone before starting some paperwork, or while waiting for the kettle to boil, or just before going to bed, and suddenly what you intended to do has been forgotten completely.

ADHD, short-form video, and time blindness

Time blindness can make this even more noticeable, because when you're absorbed in something interesting, it can be surprisingly difficult to have an accurate sense of how long you've actually been doing it. You might genuinely think you've been scrolling for ten minutes, only to look at the clock and realise that an hour has passed.

Recent research is beginning to look more closely at this relationship between ADHD and short-form video use, including the effects on time awareness, attention, and how people feel afterwards. It is an interesting area of research because it starts to look at the interaction between ADHD and the technology itself, rather than simply telling people with ADHD that they need to have more self-control.

Is short-form video bad for people with ADHD?

I don't think it is as simple as saying that social media or short-form video is bad for people with ADHD, as there are plenty of positives. Social media can be entertaining, it can help us stay connected with other people, and there is some fantastic ADHD content that can help people understand themselves and their experiences better.

The difficulty is that the same technology that can provide useful information and entertainment can also make it incredibly easy to lose track of time.

I've written before about how I rely heavily on my phone to help me manage my own ADHD, particularly for calendars, reminders, appointments, and alarms, but I also know that it can quite happily steal my attention if I'm not careful. I've picked up my phone to check one thing and ended up going down a completely unrelated rabbit hole, which is a fairly familiar experience for me!

How can you manage short-form video use with ADHD?

For me, it comes down to being aware of how I use technology, rather than deciding that I shouldn't use it at all.

If you regularly find yourself spending far longer scrolling than you intended, it can be useful to look at when it tends to happen. Is it when you're bored? When you have something difficult to start? When you're tired? Or when you've finished something and are looking for a quick bit of stimulation?

Understanding what is happening can be more useful than simply telling yourself that you need to stop doing it.

Technology is going to remain a huge part of our lives, and there are plenty of ways it can make life easier when you have ADHD. At the same time, it is worth being aware that some of the things designed to keep us engaged can make it very easy to lose an hour without even realising it.