Excessive Scrolling but Attentive News Reading? How Short Video Use and Awareness of Its Negative Impact Shape News Engagement Across Devices

Through a mixed-method approach, this study investigates three interrelated questions pertaining to how short-form video apps affect people’s engagement with news. Results from our lab study utilizing an eye-tracking method (Study 1) did not reveal evidence that people’s heavy use of short video apps is negatively associated with visual attention to news or recall of news; however, Study 1 uncovered that the more people were aware of their heavy use of short video apps and its negative impact (referred to as short video risk awareness), the more attentive they were when reading news. In addition, our quasi-experimental study (Study 2) suggests that the positive impact of short video risk awareness differs by the device with which people consume news; specifically, the divide in computer and mobile users’ retention of news was alleviated by their self-awareness of the negative influence short video overuse may have in certain contexts.