Health · Mental Health · 5 hrs ago
Adults with ADHD report more difficulty stopping short-video viewing
A survey of 302 adults compared short-video habits among people with and without ADHD.
Participants with ADHD more often said they watched longer than intended and found it hard to stop.
On a seven-point scale, the typical rating for difficulty pulling away was 5 for participants with ADHD, versus 3 for those without.
They were also more likely to lose track of time, regret the time spent, and feel guilty afterward.
The researchers called this pattern an “engagement trap”: recommendations can feel relevant while the endless feed makes it hard to disengage.
The findings suggest that engagement-focused feeds may place a greater burden on people with ADHD, though the differences were modest and the survey does not establish that ADHD causes the behavior.
The work was released as a preprint ahead of an accessibility conference held in Portugal in late October; no further steps were specified.
A survey of 302 adults found that participants with ADHD more often struggled to stop watching short videos and lost track of time.
They also more often reported regret, guilt and putting off tasks after watching.
The typical participant with ADHD rated it 5 out of 7 for difficulty pulling away from the feed, compared with 3 for participants without ADHD.
The researchers said recommendations were perceived as similarly relevant by both groups, and described the combination of relevant videos and difficulty disengaging as an “engagement trap.”
The study found no statistically reliable difference between participants with a formal ADHD diagnosis and those who self-identified as having ADHD.
- Who
- Researchers led by Elisabeth Lex at Graz University of Technology surveyed 302 adults, including participants with and without ADHD.
- What
- The survey found that participants with ADHD more often reported difficulty stopping short-video viewing, losing track of time and feeling regret afterward.
- When
- The research was released as a preprint ahead of ASSETS 2026, held in late October. The article was published on 2026-11-02.
- Where
- Graz University of Technology in Austria conducted the research. Participants were recruited online through Prolific.
- Why
- The researchers examined how short-video feeds affect people with ADHD; the sources do not state a specific cause for the reported differences.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
ASSETS 2026, a computing accessibility conference, was held in Portugal.
The research was released as a preprint.
Earth.com published its article about the survey findings.
- Participants
- 302 adults surveyed
- ADHD participants
- 150 total: 65 reported a formal diagnosis and 85 self-identified as having ADHD
- Difficulty disengaging
- Typical rating was 5 out of 7 for participants with ADHD and 3 for those without ADHD
- Most popular app
- YouTube Shorts, ahead of Instagram Reels and TikTok
- Research institution
- Graz University of Technology, Austria
What people are saying
By the ‘engagement trap,’ we mean a situation in which (video) recommendations are, on the one hand, perceived as highly relevant, but, on the other hand, people find it very difficult to tear themselves away from the screen and consciously control their own behavior
Our findings show that recommender systems optimized for engagement place a disproportionate emotional and behavioral burden on people with ADHD