(Minghui.org) Short-video platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and WeChat have become an integral part of our daily lives in China. Beyond making shopping more convenient, these platforms have also become important tools for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to monitor people. I want to discuss the dangers of becoming obsessed with short videos.
Short videos move at a fast pace, switching every few seconds, and forcing the brain to stay on high alert amid frequent changes. Every transition requires us to reset and readjust our attention. Thus, in just half an hour, a great deal of energy is spent on keeping up with the videos rather than on the content itself.
After being exposed to this real-time feedback mode over a period of time, the brain gradually adapts to short-term stimuli, making it difficult to settle down and engage in deep thinking. When we try to work on other tasks, it’s hard to refocus our attention, and our minds continue to go in circles, making us restless.
We can become irritable and impatient over time, can’t sit still during meditation, are unable to enter tranquility, struggle to understand the Fa teachings, and get easily frustrated over trivial things. This isn’t about being distracted; it’s the erosion of our cognitive function and emotional strength. It is like a narcotic that gradually consumes practitioners, making us fall without even realizing it.
Short video platforms use precise algorithms to push endless content tailored to the viewers’ interests. Through short, simple, and quick stimuli that constantly create sensory pleasure while sparking new anticipation, the brain enters a habitual state. After finishing one video, our fingers automatically scroll to the next.
It’s easy to scroll, but hard to stop. Once we click on one, an hour or two will just fly by. Time is precious, and wasting it on short videos is a great loss for practitioners.
Short videos first keep us engaged by catering to our preferences, then trap us in an information bubble and repeatedly brainwash us. This is the logic behind their algorithms. They recommend videos that we like to watch, and we might not think much of it at first and feel that “they really understand me.” But as similar content keeps coming, our views can gradually narrow down to just one perspective. We might start to think this is how the world is, when in reality it’s just a collection of videos tailored for us. Once we’re trapped inside the box, we’ll believe whatever they feed us.
Homogeneous information floods our screen at a high frequency, constantly reinforcing our views and magnifying our emotions. Messages with strong stances and flaming rhetoric use intense stimuli to shape our thoughts. After a while, we might stop asking “why” and no longer scrutinize the logic behind these viewpoints, and are content with the fleeting thrill of having our emotions ignited. Once our critical thinking is weakened, we unknowingly adopt others’ viewpoints as our own and take emotional venting as independent opinions.
What’s more frightening is that this transformation occurs without us realizing it. We might think we’re just scrolling through videos and killing time, but the algorithm has already chosen our position and shaped our attitude for us. It first keeps us hooked with entertainment, then ties us down with emotion, and finally remolds our thinking bit by bit through targeted content. By the time we realize what’s going on, we can’t even pinpoint when this change began.
Short videos are like a gentle trap. They make us restless, steal our time, and dictate how we think and what we believe. By the time we want to break free, we may not have the strength to do so. This is very dangerous for practitioners, as it can alter our perceptions and lead us down into the big dye vat of human society.
These are my personal insights. Please kindly point out what is not in line with the Fa.