Ever since Musical.ly’s popularity in 2016, the world has been drawn to 15-second videos. They give viewers an immediate hit of dopamine, but have unfortunately led to decreased attention spans and even addiction to doomscrolling.Â
Instagram introduced its “Reels” section of the app in August of 2020 as a direct competitor to TikTok. I remember thinking it was a weird decision and that I would just continue to use TikTok. However, I’ve begun to spend more time on Reels and less time on TikTok over the past few years.Â
TikTok’s successful algorithm has been a topic of discussion for a bit, but I feel like it has gotten less accurate. This also has to do with the addition of the “TikTok Shop” in 2023. While it is a great idea and makes shopping very easy, my entire For You Page has been flooded with advertisements for a popular shirt or “life-changing” makeup product. It feels like the app has transformed into a marketplace instead of somewhere for me to post and enjoy content.
Reels, on the other hand, are very random, but are interesting to me. Instagram allows you to customize your feed, but my favorite feature is being able to see what my mutuals are liking. If anything, that makes the experience even funnier. It’s also a lot easier to share reels; for example, some of my family members only use Facebook and Instagram. TikTok’s security has negative perceptions, but people fully trust Instagram with their information.
Even though both of these platforms are entertaining, they can also be dangerous if too much time is spent on them. I often find myself putting videos at 2x speed, but realistically, I should be able to sit through a 20-second video with no problems. I guess that’s the trade-off with short-form content. It’s fun, fast, and constantly giving you something new, but it also makes it harder to slow down.
At the end of the day, the best content is still the stuff that actually sticks with you, not just the 50 videos you barely remember watching five minutes later.
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