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Instagram Reels: Scrolling Too Much Can Affect Your Brain, Study Warns
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News18•28-09-2026, 21:50
Instagram Reels: Scrolling Too Much Can Affect Your Brain, Study Warns
- •Excessive viewing of Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts has serious health implications for the brain.
- •Short-form content causes a sudden dopamine release, trapping users in endless scrolling and making them lose track of time.
- •Continuously watching short videos can temporarily reduce the activity of brain parts related to cognitive control.
- •A study published in the NeuroImage journal examined 56 young adults, recording their brain reactions to short videos.
- •The study does not claim that watching short videos causes permanent brain damage or long-term cognitive problems.
Key Questions Answered
Watching short-form content can trigger a sudden release of dopamine and temporarily reduce activity in brain regions linked to cognitive control, attention, and self-control.
The study focused on two key areas in the brain's cognitive control network: the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC).
No, the study does not prove that watching short videos causes permanent brain damage or long-term cognitive problems; the reduction in brain activity is only temporary.
