Boredom is an unpleasant feeling for most of us. To avoid it, many people use digital media to provide additional stimulation. But this can be counterproductive, a study has now shown. Those who switch from one online video to the next at short intervals are more likely to be bored than less. This is because constantly switching makes the individual videos seem meaningless. It can be more sensible to stay with one content for longer, recommend the researchers.
People who are bored often feel an unpleasant inner emptiness or restlessness. This feeling is so unpleasant for many that they go to great lengths to escape boredom – even if it harms themselves or others. Previous studies have shown that test subjects even give themselves electric shocks out of boredom. In everyday situations, the smartphone therefore offers a welcome – and much more harmless – distraction. Many people pass the time with short videos on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook or other online media platforms.
More rather than less boredom
“A common way of watching these videos is to switch back and forth between videos and fast forward,” explain Katy Tam from the University of Toronto in Canada and her colleagues. “We hypothesized that people consume media in this way to avoid boredom – but that this behavior paradoxically increases boredom.” The researchers investigated whether this assumption is correct in seven experiments with a total of over 1,200 participants. The test subjects were able to zap between videos themselves, jump within the videos, or were asked to watch the entire film. They were also asked about their level of boredom and other parameters.
The result: “We found a causal relationship between boredom and digital switching,” the team reports. “When participants were bored, they switched channels, and they believed that switching would help them avoid boredom. However, jumping between videos and within a video did not lead to less boredom, but rather to more boredom.” The researchers discovered the reasons for this paradoxical effect by interviewing the test subjects.
Better to immerse yourself in content
Participants found videos of which they only watched short sections and then skipped to be meaningless, were less attentive while watching, and felt less satisfied. This was also true when they were given the opportunity to choose videos on YouTube based on their interests. The situation was different, however, when the researchers did not give the test subjects the opportunity to jump back and forth between different videos or within a video, but asked them to watch a single, ten-minute video from start to finish. In this case, participants rated the experience as more satisfying, engaging, and meaningful, and felt less bored.
“Overall, our results suggest that trying to avoid boredom by switching channels digitally can sometimes inadvertently make it worse,” the research team concludes. “When watching videos, it is probably more pleasant to immerse yourself in the videos rather than zapping through them.” The study did not examine the extent to which short attention spans contribute to an increase in boredom or digital switching. It is also unclear whether the results differ depending on age or experience with digital media. The study’s experiments mainly involved Canadian college students.
Source: Katy Tam (University of Toronto, Canada) et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology, doi: 10.1037/xge0001639