Speeding Up Videos And Audios Cause Cognitive Overloads, Affecting The Brain

People globally are reference little and less, and watching much videos and listening to much podcasts than ever before.

According to a 2022 Gallup survey, Americans are reference less books per twelvemonth than ever before. And according to nan US Bureau of Labour Statistics, nan clip group walk reference has dropped steadily complete nan past 20 years. In Europe, nan inclination is similar. A European Commission study revealed that 47.2 per cent of European Union (EU) citizens had not publication a azygous book successful 12 months.

The Reading Agency successful nan UK released a study that says that 50 per cent of adults successful nan United Kingdom do not publication regularly. The information uncover a important alteration successful nan number of group reference regularly compared to 2014, erstwhile 58 per cent stated they picked up a book frequently.

More smartphones, less readers, much videos

Habits are changing, and that’s chiefly owed to nan wide ownership of mobile phones. As a constituent of reference, let’s return nan US, wherever 98 per cent now ain a cellphone of immoderate kind, and 91 per cent ain a smartphone, up from 35 per cent successful 2011, according to a 2024 Pew Research survey.

According to Statista, arsenic of April 2025, astir 5.56 cardinal group are regular net users. Of each net consumers, astir 92 per cent watch integer videos each week, and 78 per cent of them watch them online, while 55 per cent watch videos each day, according to Telemprompter.

Although statistic connected nan world take of adjusting nan velocity of audiobooks, podcasts, and videos are not yet available, according to a BBC report, galore group worldwide are utilising nan characteristic that enables this adjustment.

More and much students are speeding up lectures

“For example,” said BBC successful an article on nan subject, “a study of California students found that 89 per cent of them changed nan velocity of online lectures, while galore media articles person appeared astir nan wide usage of speed-reading.”

Listening aliases viewing things much quickly has galore advantages successful today’s world, wherever we are ever successful a hurry to complete tasks efficiently, specified arsenic connected nan autobus aliases connected our measurement to schoolhouse aliases work. Many students judge they tin study faster aliases much if they velocity up nan integer contented they request to study.

Speeding up contented allows 1 to judge that they tin devour much contented successful little clip aliases reappraisal copy contented aggregate times to get nan astir retired of it, which could beryllium adjuvant successful an acquisition context.

Watching videos successful fast-paced mode is besides a bully measurement to support our attraction and liking passim nan video, frankincense preventing our minds from becoming distracted.

These are nan upsides, truthful what astir nan downsides?

When a personification is exposed to oral information, researchers separate 3 phases of memory: encoding nan information, storing it, and past retrieving it.

During nan encoding phase, nan encephalon requires clip to process and comprehend nan watercourse of words it receives. Words must beryllium extracted, and their contextual meaning must beryllium retrieved from representation successful existent time.

People typically speak astatine a velocity of astir 150 words per minute, though doubling that velocity to 300 aliases moreover tripling it to 450 words per infinitesimal is still wrong nan scope of what we see intelligible.

The rumor is alternatively nan value and longevity of nan memories we form. Information is temporarily stored successful a representation strategy called moving memory, wherever it is transformed, mixed and manipulated into a shape suitable for transportation to semipermanent memory.

Overload and accusation loss

Since our moving representation has a constricted capacity, if excessively overmuch accusation is uploaded excessively quickly, it tin lead to cognitive overload and accusation loss.

A caller meta-analysis examined 24 studies connected learning from speech videos. The studies varied successful design, but mostly progressive playing a video speech astatine normal velocity (1x) for 1 group and astatine faster speeds (1.25x, 1.5x, 2x, and 2.5x) for different group.

The tests consisted of recalling information, answering multiple-choice questions to measure callback ability, aliases both.

The meta-analysis showed that expanding playback velocity had progressively adverse effects connected trial performance. At speeds up to 1.5 times, nan costs was minimal. But astatine speeds of 2 times aliases higher, nan adverse effect was mean to large.

Speeding up videos meant little scores

To put this into context, if nan mean people for a group of students was 75 per cent, pinch a emblematic variance of 20 percent points successful either direction, expanding nan playback velocity to 1.5x would trim each person’s mean people by 2 percent points. Increasing nan velocity to 2.5x would consequence successful an mean nonaccomplishment of 17 percent points.

Interestingly, 1 of nan studies included successful nan meta-analysis besides looked astatine older adults (ages 61 to 94) and recovered that they were much affected by viewing contented astatine faster speeds than younger adults (ages 18 to 36).

This whitethorn bespeak a weakening of representation capacity successful different patient individuals, suggesting that older adults should position contented astatine normal velocity aliases moreover slower playback speeds to compensate for this effect.

The researchers person yet to find whether watching videos astatine higher playback speeds has semipermanent effects connected intelligence usability and encephalon activity aliases if group tin retrieve from nan harm it causes.

A batch much investigation and testing request to beryllium done to understand whether younger generations will accommodate to viewing and listening to contented astatine faster speeds, and whether, successful time, it will not go a intelligence wellness issue.