Effects of short videos and infographics on time distortion

Abstract

Time distortion is a common experience during social media usage. This experience could contribute to problematic and addictive behaviors that impact individuals’ mental health. While previous studies examined the effects of different social media platforms on time distortion, few used experimental measures or considered the increasingly similar content types across evolving platforms. Thus, shifting the focus to social media content type as the variable rather than the platforms would be valuable. This study addresses these concerns by exploring the effects of social media content types (infographics and short videos) on time distortion. An experiment was conducted with young adult participants (n = 60) who are frequent social media users. Participants engaged in a baseline reading condition and two social media conditions: infographics and short videos. Time perception was measured through both retrospective estimation and subjective judgment of time passage via questionnaires. The results revealed significant overestimation of time for both short videos and infographics content consumption. While no significant difference was found in retrospective time estimation between the two content types, participants experienced significantly heightened flow states in terms of time distortion with short videos compared to infographics consumption. These findings extend the memory-based model and flow theory in terms of time perception to the context of social media content types, offering practical implications for social media content consumers.