Future?
There is, apparently, a problem with people—especially kids—who are constantly getting high on TikTok clips, Instagram reels, and YouTube shorts flooding social media feeds. Here is the issue succinctly expressed in the title of the paper published: “No Future Vision, No Present Perseverance.” From several universities in the Guangzhou region in China. Published in Computers in Human Behavior.
Altering their perception of time! Instant gratification from short video clips makes it hard for users to comprehend how the present affects the future, they say.
In today’s digitally saturated society, short-form videos have rapidly become a central part of adolescents’ daily digital activities. These videos are characterized by high sensory stimulation, ease of access, and the ability to deliver instant gratification.”
Clips, reels, and shorts. Rinse and repeat. Ad infinitum.
“Future time perspective” is one’s capacity to tie present activities to later outcomes, whether it is good grades leading to a good college to a good job to a good future. But this future thinking in multidimensions is impaired for those social media addicts (the condition even has a name: SFVA—short-form video addiction), reports the study that involved more than 1,500 high-school students.
These short-form videos activate the reward circuitry of the brain with their novel and engaging qualities, leading to instant (and constant) gratification. It is addictive and can make it hard for the one affected to cease viewing.
Dr. Vera Feuer, chief clinical officer at the Child Mind Institute, New York:
The brain effects hold true for adults, but are more pronounced in teens. Adolescents already have a harder time than adults with planning ahead and controlling their impulses, because of the brain’s immature prefrontal cortex. We know young people have difficulty with patience, tolerating frustration and delaying gratification. They have a harder time managing and overcoming difficulty.”
And students having trouble and facing academic setbacks are more inclined to use short-form videos as an escape, creating a vicious cycle of negativity.
But the study’s results weren’t all doom and gloom.
Dr. Feuer:
One new finding from this study is that the ability to overcome academic difficulty improves when there’s a strong future point of view.”
Said the authors:
Cultivating adolescents’ future time perspective is therefore crucial to counteract short-form video addiction’s detrimental effects and bolster their academic buoyancy.”
Parents and educators can further this, of course, with appropriate guidance and control. And Meta recently went into an $18-billion settlement with 48 states in the US. The tech giant agreed to put in place a two-hour daily limit for teens across Instagram and Facebook as well as to block the apps’ main feeds between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m.
Yup, a future perspective is important. The Bible has affirmed that for millennia.
Make us know accurately [how] to count our days,
and we will bring to You a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12
Future perspective is not escapism. It is, rather, an anchor founded upon God that stabilizes the present.
I have set Yahweh before me continually;
because [He is] at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is joyous and my inner being jubilates;
yes, my flesh will abide in safety.
For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
You will not let Your devout one to see the grave.
You will make known to me the path of life;
fullness of joy [is with] Your presence;
pleasures in Your right hand perpetually.
Psalm 16:8–11
SOURCES (of ideas, numbers, and words): The Wall Street Journal; Computers in Human Behavior
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching.