Adolescent user behaviors on short video application, cognitive functioning and academic performance

Abstract

Despite the soaring popularity of short video application (SVA) worldwide and its unique affordances provided for adolescent development, little is known about its potential impact on adolescent users' cognitive ability. This study aimed to examine whether and how adolescents’ user behaviors regarding SVA, including daily usage and reliance on algorithmic recommendations, predict their cognitive functioning and academic performance. A sample of Chinese adolescents from two age cohorts (Mage = 12.25, SD = 0.02, N = 454; Mage = 15.21, SD = 0.02, N = 368) completed the survey on SVA user behavior and cognitive ability tests regarding academic delay of gratification (ADOG), working memory and verbal ability, with their academic performance assessed by final exam grades. The findings reveal that daily usage of SVA predicted lower ADOG and academic performance for both age cohorts. SVA daily usage also predicted lower working memory and verbal ability for the younger cohort only, which simultaneously mediated the associations between their user behaviors and poorer academic performance. And the dependency on algorithmic personalization predicted lower working memory for the younger cohort only. Regarding the age differences in SVA-related effects, the study further points out the higher susceptibility of younger adolescents to SVA use compared to their older counterparts, which should be noted by students, parents, educators and researchers so as to prevent the potentially negative impact of using SVA.