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Why Reels and Shorts are so fast?
Ever scroll through Reels and feel like your brain's been thrown into a blender? One second it’s a dog in a hat, then a face zoomed in mid-sentence, then someone whispering life advice over dramatic music and you’re not sure if it’s been 3 minutes or 30. That’s not by accident. It’s by design.
These videos aren’t fast because you’re in a hurry. They’re fast because your attention is the currency and creators are in a bidding war for it. They’ve learned that if they don’t hit you with something gripping every half-second, you’ll swipe. So they stack jump cuts, speed up speech, cram 30 seconds of action into 10. Not to help you learn more. To stop you from leaving.
Your brain isn’t built for this kind of speed. Every time the scene shifts, your nervous system lights up – alert, alert, something changed. You feel hooked, not because it’s meaningful, but because your biology thinks something important just happened. But nothing did. And that moment of emptiness between videos? It’s carefully shaved off. The feed auto-plays the next one before your brain even catches its breath. That space where you might reflect, question, feel something deeper that space is gone.
Over time, it changes you. Fast becomes normal. Silence becomes awkward. Depth starts to feel boring. You reach for your phone not to enjoy something, but to escape stillness. And that’s when they’ve got you not just watching the content, but needing it. You’re no longer the user. You’re the product.
But here’s the good news. Noticing this is the first step back to control. Next time a video ends, just wait. Literally pause. Let your mind come back to itself. Pay attention to how fast everything is moving and how fast you’ve started moving with it. Slow down, even just for a breath.
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