Why ReelFree?
The loop is the product.
Short-video feeds are built from deliberate design decisions. We think those decisions deserve to be examined in the open, with evidence, and without alarm.
The pattern we mean
Our concern is a specific design pattern: algorithmically driven, infinite-scroll short-form video feeds. It is not short video, not creators, and not anyone’s right to publish or to watch.
The pattern is easy to describe because its parts are visible to anyone who uses these products. Describing them is not the same as saying what they do to people — that is the question the evidence has to answer.
- Infinite scroll
- The feed has no end and no natural stopping point. Nothing marks where a session was meant to finish.
- Autoplay and continuous recommendation
- The next video begins on its own. Continuing requires no decision; stopping requires one.
- Algorithmic engagement optimisation
- What appears next is chosen by a system designed to hold attention, and it adapts to whatever holds yours.
What we are investigating
These are the areas we are examining. They are questions, not conclusions, and they are not a claim that everyone who uses these products experiences the same effects.
- Excessive short-form video consumption
- Infinite scrolling, autoplay and continuous recommendation
- Algorithmic engagement optimisation
- Attention fragmentation
- Disruption to study and productivity
- Sleep disruption
- Young people's digital wellbeing
- Use that people describe as compulsive or hard to control
- Unrealistic social and influencer expectations
- “Easy money” and shortcut-success expectations promoted through creator culture
- The economics and design of attention capture
Why we are careful about claims
Much of what is said about short video is louder than the evidence behind it. A movement that exaggerates loses the people it most needs to persuade, so we hold ourselves to a stricter standard.
- An association is not shown to be a cause unless the research supports a cause.
- What people report about themselves is not presented as an objective measurement.
- A finding about one population is not presented as true of everyone.
- One study is not presented as a consensus.
Everything we publish is labelled as one of five kinds of claim:
- Fact
- Verifiable information.
- Research finding
- What a study reports.
- Interpretation
- Our analysis of the evidence.
- Opinion
- A viewpoint.
- Policy position
- What we ask governments or platforms to do.
What this movement is not
- An anti-technology movement.
- A campaign against Gen Z, or against anyone who enjoys short video.
- An attack on individual companies, creators or users.
- A source of exaggerated medical or scientific claims.
- A platform for harassment or personal attacks.