Why do I loop back to short-form video apps after deleting them?

[Aurora.W]

Okay, so I’ve been trying to cut back on my screen time lately, especially on the big video apps. But I keep finding myself in this weird loop where I delete the app for a week, feel good about it, then re-download it because a friend sends me a link to something hilarious or I want to check a specific creator. It doesn’t feel like a full-blown addiction, but it’s this annoying little dance. Does anyone else get stuck in this cycle with short-form video?

[William20]

Yeah, I know this loop. I’ll delete the app for a week and feel virtuous, then a friend drops a link and suddenly I’m back in the feed. It’s not a crisis, but the pattern is tiring.

[OliverJ]

Hard to call it a problem if it’s only a few minutes here and there. maybe the itch is curiosity dressed as boredom. Do you even want to break the habit or just manage it?

[Joshua.J]

One trick that helps me with short-form video is a strict timer and moving the app off the home screen. When I try to reinstall, the timer still nags me and I pause. It’s clunky but it buys time.

[Penelope_T]

I might have misread and thought you meant short-form video games. The back-and-forth still hits—the lure of a quick hit, the dance of delete and reinstall.

[Noah98]

Maybe the issue isn’t the app but the feed economy. Every link is a tiny dopamine hit. If you reframe, you start looking for a real pause that isn’t curated by creators.

[DennisR]

The loop is real, but it isn’t black and white. For me it’s about craving micro arcs, not the app itself. It’s fragile, and that makes it feel honest in a way.