The Interplay between Cognitive Load and Emotional Distress in Social Media Use.
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2025-07-10
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en
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Given how many individuals spend hours watching videos on social media and using it on a daily basis, it is critical to comprehend the effects this has on cognitive and emotional well-being. This study examined how different types of social media video content affect users’ cognitive load and emotional distress. Using an experimental design, 118 participants (mean age = 32.24, SD = 11.65) were randomly assigned to watch one of three video types (neutral, cognitively demanding, and emotionally evokative) and completed surveys before and after the exposure. Repeated-measures ANOVAs showed that both emotional and cognitive content increased cognitive load. However, emotional distress slightly decreased after watching cognitively demanding content and surprisingly reduced significantly after watching emotionally evocative content, likely due to a mix of sad and uplifting scenes. The results point to a compelx interplay between cognitive load and emotional distress in social media use. Although this relationship does not appear to follow a simple reinforcing cycle, it is probably influenced by factors like emotional tone, content structure, and the duration of the exposure.
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