Double-Edged Sword: The Role of Empathy in Excessive Use of Short-Video Applications

Digital platforms increasingly leverage user empathy as a key human-computer interaction (HCI) tactic, aiming to boost engagement and drive consumption. In this context, variations in individuals’ empathy traits are linked to divergent digital technology usage behaviors. Empathy-based HCI strategies should consider these individual differences. The study focuses on the divergent roles of cognitive and affective empathy in excessive use of short-video applications (EUSVA). In a cross-sectional survey of 597 Chinese university students, a multiverse-style analysis revealed a significant positive association between affective empathy and EUSVA, but no overall association for cognitive empathy. Subsequent one-way ANOVA analysis revealed a conditional relationship: higher cognitive empathy was associated with lower EUSVA, but only among individuals with low affective empathy. Collectively, these findings illustrate that empathy functions as a double-edged sword in relation to EUSVA: the affective dimension constitutes a primary risk factor, whereas the cognitive dimension acts as a conditional protective factor. Additionally, supplementary analyses reveal that empathy plays distinct roles in usage duration versus EUSVA, underscoring their conceptual distinction.