Skip to content
REELFREE NATION
English
Join the Movement

Research library

What studies have actually found about short-video feeds. Every record names its source, its study design and its limitations, and keeps the source’s finding apart from our reading of it.

Cross-sectional studies on mental wellbeing

2 of 16

Clear filters

  1. Attention fragmentation and emotional distress: a mixed-methods study of social media use among Indian adults aged 18-45 years

    Bayaskar, S.; Sharma, D.
    BMC Psychology, 14, 1080

    This survey of 582 Indian adults found that people who spent more time on social media were more likely to have scattered, broken attention. People with scattered attention also reported more anxiety and low mood. Many described jumping between Reels and WhatsApp as leaving their mind cluttered. The study shows a link, not that social media causes these problems.

    Design
    Cross-sectional
    Year
    2026
    Where
    India
    Topics
    Attention, Digital behaviour, Mental wellbeing
    Limitations recorded

  2. The relationship between short-form video use and depression among Chinese adolescents: Examining the mediating roles of need gratification and short-form video addiction

    Zhu, C.; Jiang, Y.; Lei, H. et al.
    Heliyon, 10(9), e30346

    In a survey of 1,302 high-school students in China, the amount of time spent watching short videos was only weakly linked to depression. Feeling unable to stop watching was much more strongly linked to it. The study shows links, not causes, and the link could run either way.

    Design
    Cross-sectional
    Year
    2024
    Where
    China
    Topics
    Digital behaviour, Mental wellbeing, Youth wellbeing
    Limitations recorded

A study is published here only after its source is identified and verified, its design classified, its finding checked against the original, and its limitations recorded. How we judge evidence