How viewing videos at double speed is changing your brain

Fasting and Curiosity?

If you love watching videos online—whether it’s TikTok, YouTube, or MasterClass—you might have gotten used to speeding things up. You know, watching at a faster pace, often at what feels like Rooney Tunes Speed.

This trend, often referred to as speedwatching, is becoming pretty common. It allows you to digest content in much less time, which is, let’s face it, appealing for our busy lives.

But have you considered how this might affect your brain? An international team of researchers has delved into this very question.

They looked at 24 different studies, placing participants into two groups. One group watched videos at regular speed while the other experienced the same videos at various speeds—1.25x, 1.5x, 2x, and even 2.5x.

Afterward, both groups took a test to measure their retention of the information.

Interestingly, while the difference at 1.5 times wasn’t precisely documented, there was a notable impact on memory at speeds of double time.

“The incoming information is temporarily stored in a memory system known as working memory,” explains Marcus Pierce, a cognitive science researcher at Queen Mary University in London. He recently shared insights into this research.

“This allows you to translate, combine, and juggle a lot of information at once. However, working memory has its limits. Overloading it can lead to cognitive overload, and then—poof!—you start losing information.”

His advice? Stick to speeds of around 1.25x or 1.5x, especially for complex or unfamiliar topics.

The research is documented in a recent journal in educational psychology.

It’s intriguing to think that our modern content consumption might only be beneficial for younger audiences, but the study suggests otherwise.

A 2023 survey highlighted that older adults, particularly those aged 61 to 94, face a 31% decline in understanding at just 1.5 times speed compared to younger individuals who can maintain about 90% understanding even at double the speed.

At this point, it’s uncertain whether the issue stems from age alone or from a lack of practice. Are younger individuals simply more mentally adaptable, or are they just better trained in processing information quickly?

If it’s the latter, can older adults improve in this area?

The scant research available indicates a rather sobering outlook.

Yes, younger brains show more flexibility, but there’s a suggestion that older adults can adapt too. However, this often requires more time and they may plateau earlier in their training.

If seniors are keen on enhancing their speedwatching skills, targeted programs with step-by-step training, retention evaluations, and cognitive enhancements could be promising paths.