Investor Sparsh Sehgal has sparked an important conversation about the growing dependence on short-form content after disabling Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts on his phone. He noticed that his attention span felt noticeably shorter, prompting him to restrict access to short-form videos on his phone. He can still use Instagram for direct messages, but whenever he tries to open a Reel, the app automatically closes.
Just a few days into the experiment, he said he began noticing how deeply scrolling had become embedded in his daily routine. In a long post on X, Sehgal said the idea came after he tried picking up a book following a three-month break.
“. If I am idle even for a few seconds, such as being in an elevator or waiting for a person to join a Zoom call, I now get somewhat uneasy. Reason: reels had become a filler activity for any moment when my mind was idle. The stimulus was/is beyond addictive,” he explained. See the full post here: Without that option, even brief periods of inactivity began to feel uncomfortable. He also noticed that the habit had become almost automatic. At times, he found himself opening Instagram and attempting to access Reels without consciously deciding to do so, suggesting that scrolling had become part of his muscle memory. The experiment also made him question how much value he actually got from watching short videos. “I also realized how unnecessary watching reels is, there is no redeeming quality. I watched them for the memes, aka entertainment, but I replaced it with watching long-form entertainment such as stand-ups and sitcoms. Some boredom, yes, but no lack of entertainment per se,” he stated. However, Sehgal pointed out that giving up Reels could have an unexpected social cost. Short-form platforms have become a major source of pop-culture references and online trends, with certain jokes, phrases and trends emerging and disappearing within days. Let us see if that actually happens,” he added. “Reels are not just a stimulus; they are also a de-facto search engine where the algorithm already knows what you want to search for and shows it to you preemptively. We are dependent on them not just for mental stimulus but also for discoverability of almost everything,” he wrote further. That, he argued, makes the dependence on these platforms more complicated. People may not only be relying on them for constant stimulation but also for discovering what to buy, where to go and what is trending. Sehgal’s biggest concern is the extent to which a small device in people’s hands can influence their mood, opinions, consumption habits and daily routines.
“The last three days have been an eye-opener on how deeply addicted our minds have become to reels and doom scrolling,” he said in his post. The first few days, he said, made him realise how often short videos had become a default response to moments of boredom. “When everyone around you is consuming the same trends and hence has the same context-language for humour, you end up being “out of place” if you are unaware of those trends.
He also urged users to be particularly cautious about children’s exposure to short-form content. “.If you have younger siblings or children, protect them from short-form content like you protect them from smoking. The impact on cognition, EQ and IQ is much stronger during the formative stages of one’s brain,” he advised users.
