The Association Between Excessively Watching Videos in Endless Loop on Social Media and Subjective Time Perception:...

Videos in endless loop (VEL) are a popular form of entertainment on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, with an estimated 1.5 billion users on TikTok alone in 2025. Despite their popularity, concerns have emerged regarding their impact on users' perception of time. This study (N = 151) investigated the relationship between watching VEL and time perception, valence, and arousal. A novel digital time-guessing task was developed and embedded within a 14-day experience sampling design to ensure ecological validity and assess the real-life effects of VEL consumption. In addition, a short-term retest approach, nested within the daily assessments, allowed us to examine the temporal dynamics of possible effects. While no immediate differences in time perception were found between the reference measurement and directly after VEL consumption, significant differences in time estimation were observed 15 and 30 minutes later. In contrast, VEL had no lasting effects on participants' valence and arousal, apart from brief changes directly after viewing. These findings indicate that watching VEL is associated with subjective time perception, albeit with a delayed effect. Given the small-to-medium effect size (β ≈ 0.20) within this specific sample (young, educated, female, and German-speaking) and the high frequency with which individuals engage with VEL in daily life, this effect may have meaningful implications for users' temporal orientation and media consumption behavior.