A single X post by American physician and science communicator Dr Nicholas Fabiano has gone viral in February 2026, racking up over 5.5 million views and 34,000 likes in days. The message is stark: “Addiction to short-form videos reduces brain activity in the frontal lobe weakening the ability to focus.”
Accompanied by a striking brain-scan image, the post links to a real scientific study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience in June 2024. The finding has sparked intense discussion online from parents worried about their children’s attention spans to professionals noticing their own shrinking ability to read long articles or concentrate at work.
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What the Science Actually Shows
The study, titled “Mobile phone short video use negatively impacts attention functions: an EEG study”, was conducted by researchers at Zhejiang University in China.
They recruited 48 healthy young adults (35 women, 13 men, average age 21.8 years). Participants completed a standard psychological test called the Attention Network Test (ANT), which measures three aspects of attention: alerting, orienting, and executive control (the ability to focus amid distractions or conflicting information).
While doing the test, their brain activity was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). Before the test, each person filled out the Mobile Phone Short Video Addiction Tendency Questionnaire (MPSVATQ), a scale that measures how strongly someone feels pulled toward short-form videos like those on TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts.
The key result: participants with higher scores on the short-video addiction tendency scale showed significantly lower theta-band brain activity in the frontal lobe during the part of the test that requires executive control. Specifically, there was a moderate negative correlation (r = -0.395, p = 0.007) between short-video tendency and frontal theta power when the brain had to resolve conflict.
Theta waves in the frontal region are known to support focused attention and cognitive control. Lower activity here suggests weaker executive control exactly the “weakening ability to focus” mentioned in the viral post.
Importantly, this effect was seen only during the attention task not in resting-state EEG recorded before or after. There was no significant link to the other two attention networks (alerting or orienting). The study also found that higher short-video tendency was linked to lower self-control scores on a separate questionnaire.
Important Context and Limitations
The researchers are careful not to overstate their findings. This was a small, cross-sectional study, it shows a correlation, not proof that short-form videos cause brain changes. The sample was young, mostly female, and from one university, so results may not apply to children, older adults, or more diverse populations.
Behavioural performance on the attention test itself did not differ significantly based on video-use scores only the brain’s electrical activity did. The authors themselves call for larger, longitudinal studies and more varied tasks to confirm the findings.
Still, the research adds to a growing body of evidence that constant short, high-stimulation content may train the brain to expect rapid rewards and switch attention quickly, making sustained focus more difficult.
Why This Matters Globally and in Sri Lanka
Short-form video platforms have exploded worldwide. In Sri Lanka, where smartphone penetration now exceeds 70% among young people and data costs have fallen dramatically, TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are hugely popular among schoolchildren, university students, and young professionals.
Many Sri Lankan parents and teachers already report that students struggle to concentrate on textbooks or classroom lessons for more than a few minutes. University lecturers note shorter attention spans during lectures, and office workers admit they check their phones every few minutes, making deep work harder.
This new EEG study gives a possible neurological explanation for what many are observing in daily life: the brain’s frontal lobe, the region responsible for planning, decision-making, and resisting distractions may be getting less efficient practice when we spend hours consuming 15–60 second videos designed to deliver instant dopamine hits.
Practical Steps for Sri Lankans in the Digital Age
The good news is that the brain is highly adaptable. While the study does not prove permanent damage, it does suggest that reducing heavy short-form video use and practising sustained attention can help.
Simple, evidence-based strategies that work in Sri Lankan homes and workplaces include:
- Set daily limits (many phones now have built-in screen-time tools).
- Replace 30 minutes of scrolling with reading a physical book, listening to a podcast, or doing focused work.
- Practise “deep work” blocks of 25–50 minutes without phone access.
- For students: study in 45-minute focused sessions followed by short breaks away from videos.
- Parents can model the behaviour family meals without phones send a strong message.
Mindfulness practices popular in Sri Lanka, such as brief meditation or even traditional Buddhist mindfulness exercises, have been shown in other research to strengthen frontal lobe activity and improve attention control.
The Bigger Picture
Dr Fabiano’s viral post is not fear-mongering, it is a science-based wake-up call. Short-form videos are fun, creative, and here to stay. But like any powerful tool, they come with trade-offs.
In an era when Sri Lanka is pushing hard for digital education, online learning, and a knowledge-based economy, protecting the next generation’s ability to focus deeply is not optional, it is essential for future success in studies, careers, and life.
The frontal lobe is not “broken” by a few funny videos. But years of training the brain to expect constant novelty and instant reward can make sustained attention feel harder than it should.
The choice is ours. We can enjoy short-form content in moderation while deliberately practising the skill of deep focus, the very skill that built civilisations, wrote great literature, and solved complex problems.
Because in the end, the ability to concentrate may be one of the most valuable superpowers in our fast-moving digital world.
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