Adults With ADHD Struggle More To Stop Watching Short Videos, Survey Finds

Adults With ADHD Say Time Slips Away on Short Videos

A quick peek at a video app turns into an hour, and the evening is gone. In a survey of 302 adults, people with ADHD described that experience more often than people without it, and they reported more regret and a worse mood afterward. Yet both groups rated the videos as matching their reasons for opening the app equally well.

Researchers at Graz University of Technology in Austria wanted to know how short-form feeds on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts affect viewers with ADHD. Bad suggestions did not appear to explain the gap. The authors point instead to how hard it is to stop when another well-picked video keeps arriving.

They named the pattern the Engagement Trap, a feed that delivers highly relevant videos nonstop while stopping depends on the viewer’s own self-control or an outside cue. With nothing prompting a stop, quitting becomes a decision the viewer has to make alone, over and over. The study was posted publicly on arXiv.

Half of 302 Adults Surveyed on Short-Form Videos Reported ADHD

Participants were recruited through Prolific, an online platform that connects researchers with paid survey takers. Ages ran from 18 to 73, with a typical age of 33. Women and men took part in nearly equal numbers, along with three participants who identified as diverse.

Of the 302 adults, 150 reported having ADHD, including 65 with a medical diagnosis and 85 who identified as having it without a formal diagnosis. The other 152 reported no ADHD. No medical records were collected, so each group reflects what participants chose to share.

Everyone completed a questionnaire of about five minutes, rating statements from 1 (very low) to 7 (very high). Topics included losing track of time, difficulty stopping, regret afterward, mood, guilt, and frustration. One statement read, “Once I start watching short-content videos, I find it difficult to stop.” Two psychologists reviewed the questionnaire beforehand. All answers were self-reported, with no app tracking of actual watch time. YouTube Shorts was the most used platform (75.9%), followed by Instagram Reels (67.9%) and TikTok (59.2%), and participants could name more than one.

Adults With ADHD Reported More Regret After Watching Short-Form Videos

Compared with adults without ADHD, those with ADHD were more likely to say they watched longer than planned, lost track of time, and struggled to stop. The authors call that trouble sensing how much time has passed time blindness. A session that feels like ten minutes can quietly stretch into an hour. Time perception, impulse control, and sustained attention are all known challenges for people with ADHD. On the difficulty-stopping rating, the typical answer was 5 in both ADHD groups and 3 among adults without ADHD.

Afterward, the gap continued. Adults with ADHD more often reported regret, a feeling the time was not valuable, tasks pushed aside, guilt, and a lower mood than before a long session. Frustration over trouble pulling away showed the biggest gap of all 15 questions. Even so, most differences were small to medium in size, and adults with a formal diagnosis answered much like those who identified as having ADHD on their own.

Only one of the 15 questions, whether videos matched viewers’ reasons for opening the app, showed no gap between groups. Two statistical methods, one comparing all three groups and one combining the two ADHD groups, produced the same pattern, which makes a fluke less likely.

Forced Breaks and Video Caps Drew the Highest Ratings From All Groups

Researchers also described seven proposed stop-friendly features and asked participants how much they would want them. The list included removing the endless feed, a gentle usage reminder, a forced break, a fixed number of videos per session, a button required to move to the next video, an on-screen clock, and a tool that mixes in different content to break up a rabbit hole.

Participants in every group, including those without ADHD, gave the ideas a typical rating of 5 out of 7. Forced breaks and a fixed number of videos scored highest. Because the features existed only as descriptions, the ratings measure interest, not proof that any of them reduces scrolling.

Authors also pointed to a gap in law. The European Accessibility Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act address access to digital products, but according to the paper, neither fully addresses how engagement-driven design could affect different groups of users, including neurodivergent ones. The researchers argue regulators should extend those rules.

A feed that picks well is not the same as a feed that is easy to leave. Adults with ADHD reported feeling that gap most, and whether forced breaks, clocks, or video caps would close it has yet to be tested.

---

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and is not medical advice. It summarizes a survey based on self-reported answers and cannot diagnose, treat, or predict ADHD or any other health condition. Readers with health concerns should speak with a qualified healthcare professional.

---