Emotional Blindness and Poor Focus Linked to TikTok Addiction in New Psychological Study of Young Adults

New research shows that struggling to identify emotions and poor focus increase vulnerability to TikTok addiction, but mental training can offer protection.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 26, 2026, 4:48 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from Frontiers in Psychology.

The Rise of Short Video Addiction as a Clinical Concern

The proliferation of high-density, rewarding content on platforms like TikTok has given rise to a maladaptive consumption pattern known as Short Video Addiction (SVA). According to researchers led by Haodong Su at Anhui Science and Technology University, this relatively new form of behavioral addiction stimulates the brain's reward centers so intensely that viewers lose the ability to regulate their consumption. Unlike traditional social media use, SVA is characterized by a specific failure in cognitive regulation, where the brief and information-dense nature of the media hijacks the viewer's attention, leading to significant declines in daily efficiency and psychological health.

Attachment Anxiety and the Search for External Comfort

The study highlights a direct pathway between early childhood attachment patterns and modern digital habits. Individuals exhibiting high levels of attachment anxiety—often defined by a pervasive fear of abandonment—were found to be significantly more susceptible to SVA. The research suggests that when these individuals struggle to find internal security, they turn to the "pleasurable and satisfying" feedback loops of short videos as a coping mechanism. This reliance on digital content serves as an external regulator for negative affects that the individual feels ill-equipped to manage internally.

Alexithymia as a Barrier to Emotional Regulation

A critical component of this addictive cycle is alexithymia, a personality trait involving difficulty in identifying and expressing one’s own feelings. For those who cannot accurately process their emotions, short videos offer a form of "emotional escape" that masks underlying distress without resolving it. The study found that students with severe alexithymia symptoms showed significantly higher levels of addiction, suggesting that the inability to label internal states leads to a heavy reliance on the rapid-fire stimulation of short-form media to drown out emotional confusion.