The scientists are saying that short-form video consumption degrades memory function and slows down information processing. The average Instagram reel or TikTok enjoyer could tell you the same thing for free. You quickly open the app and suddenly, hours have slipped through your fingers.
As you exit the digital space, you are befuddled and passive. Your memory of what you saw is indistinct, even though it was all perfectly primed to engage and entertain you.
To me, this feeling is almost identical to waking up and immediately forgetting a vivid dream. The disconcerting echo of an experience I've not been allowed to retain. I was able to win back my lost dreams by writing them down the second I wake up, so I decided to try the same with an Instagram reel scrolling session.
It worked: my memory of all the reels I saw in this process is crystal clear. It was oddly unsettling to realize this was the first time I've clearly thought about the content of my reels.
Six reels from this process:
- A woman with glowing skin is eating wet thinly sliced cucumber out of a glass with silver metal chopsticks. White lettering bisects the screen, reading "Stop drinking dead water." We see the glass empty. She ASMR clinks it with her long, stripy, black and white nails. Coconut water, chia seeds, cucumbers. Now we can see she is wearing a large crystal necklace with copper wiring holding it in place. Peaches. Again, she is biting a piece. Her lips are glossy. Lemon. The background audio flips back and forth between the sound of a baby crying and the crinkly sound of reggaeton playing. Mint. Celtic sea salt. Slurping straw.
- A woman is standing on the beach at night. She is very pale, wearing a wet, ragged white nightdress, black panties visible, black hair soaked. She is standing where the waves lap the shore, the rest of the ocean in indistinct movement in the background. The flash is on, and a man is holding out a fistful of bills, asking "Would you cook for me for $100?" She smiles slowly and giggles, her chin tilted down, a demonic horror movie smile. She springs at camera man and grabs his arm, you see him fuzzily being dragged to the water. The water is splashing, gray and white in the night. The frame is completely filled by the ocean. He is screaming. The camera goes below water as he screams louder, bubbles flying around.
- A very loud, jarring ad for Uber Eats. Get 40% off at Island Poke!
- A man with a Slavic accent voices over "I'm unemployed in Thailand, and this is my day." He is sitting upright in a bed, rumpled gray covers all around him, purple curtains mostly shut. His pale torso is bared – he is in good shape. "Today I slept no more than 2 hours because I ruined my sleep." He is wearing pink shorts and scratching his leg. He is much skinnier than he looked in the first shot. "And after I washed my face, I went second room to check," A different man on the balcony, also shirtless, wearing wired headphones and lighting a cigarette, "if the other guy is still alive. And I went for a walk to buy coffee."
- An extremely curvy woman, wearing a pink dress with a purple bra underneath, is facing the camera and twerking. You can't see her ass, but it's so fat you can still see how it's moving the dress from the front. She has a tiny waist, wide hips, massive boobs. Caption reads "Bo dy done by @realign_aesthetic_clinic_
- A girl is giggling. Her camera shows a black fish with white spots facing one wall of an aquarium. There is beige gravel on the ground, and the back wall of the aquarium is bright blue. The camera pans, the aquarium is very long, and it looks empty. A cluster of tropical fish is all grouped in the far left corner. They are beautifully multicolored, wide, flat fish. It looks as if they are staring accusatorily at the other fish. "What did he do?" she giggles.