Analyze This: Skipping through videos may increase boredom

When watching YouTube, Katy Tam noticed that she would switch between videos a lot. If a video didn’t get to the point in the first 30 seconds, she’d scroll away to something else. Or if a movie’s plot felt too slow for her, she’d fast-forward. “But I realized that I wasn’t truly enjoying the content I was consuming,” she says.

Tam’s own behavior — and boredom — made her curious. Tam is a social psychologist. She works at the University of Toronto Scarborough in Ontario, Canada. Boredom arises when we’re not as captivated by something as we want to be, she says. When people aren’t fully immersed in an activity, they tend to be bored. No one had yet studied boredom and switching or skipping through videos. Tam wondered if this behavior, called digital switching, could actually make people more bored.

She and Michael Inzlicht, also at the University of Toronto Scarborough, decided to test the idea. They chose some YouTube videos and had a group rate how interesting each clip was. For the experiment, the team collected videos that were rated boring, interesting or something in between. Boring videos included footage of water dripping from a tap. Interesting selections included cat videos.

Each experiment had one condition where it was possible to switch or fast-forward videos. In the other condition, participants had to watch the entire video. Participants took part in both conditions for each experiment. As part of each experiment, they rated their boredom, satisfaction and attention.

The researchers found that participants expected digital switching would relieve them of boredom. But the data showed that wasn’t how these situations played out. “This behavior actually increases boredom,” Tam says. “And it makes their viewing experience less meaningful, less engaging and less satisfying.” The study had similar results for switching from one video to the next and fast-forwarding within a video. The team shared its findings August 19 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Because of her research, Tam has changed her own viewing habits. Now when she watches a drama, she lets it unfold and tries to focus. She doesn’t skip ahead — and she suggests that others do the same.

“If people want a more enjoyable experience watching videos, they should take their time before hitting the fast-forward or skip button,” Tam says. This can help create a more immersive experience that brings more enjoyment. “Sometimes we feel bored while watching videos,” she says. “It might not be because of the content itself, but because of how we behave.”

Researchers had participants rank boredom, satisfaction and attention on a scale from 1 to 7. For instance, a score of 1 meant that subjects were not very bored or not very satisfied. A score of 7 meant that subjects were very bored or very satisfied.

Table 1: Predictions about switching

	No-switching	Switching
Boredom	4.59	3.56
Satisfaction	3.32	3.88
Attention	3.68	3.89

Table 1 shows the results of an experiment in which participants were asked to imagine several situations. In some, people imagined watching videos that they could not fast-forward or skip (no-switching). In others, participants imagined what it would be like to be able to fast-forward or skip (switching). People rated how they thought they would feel in each type of situation.

Table 2: Switching between videos

	No-switching	Switching
Boredom	3.26	3.72
Satisfaction	4.34	3.9
Attention	4.48	4.06

Data (both tables): Tam and Inzlicht/Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 2024

Table 2 shows results of an experiment with two conditions. In one condition, participants watched a 10-minute they couldn’t fast-forward (no-switching). In the other, they were given seven 5-minute videos that they could switch between (switching).

Data Dive:

Look at the tables. Make a bar graph of each experiment’s results.
What is the difference between people’s predicted boredom in the no-switching and switching conditions?
What is the difference between people’s actual boredom between the no-switching and switching conditions?
How do predicted satisfaction and attention compare between the no-switching and switching conditions?
How do actual satisfaction and attention compare between the no-switching and switching conditions?
Do you think the results in Table 2 would change if the videos were very interesting or very boring? Why or why not?
What other experiments on digital switching could you run?