Deconstructing social contact: short video-mediated internet addiction in the post-COVID-19 era (a research survey based on university students)

With the growing popularity of short video media, concerns about the addictive of short videos have sparked discussion. In particular, after the outbreak of the pandemic, the isolation compressed and challenged young people’s offline social spaces, shifting social interactions towards online forms, thus promoting the use of short videos. Therefore, in order to explore the interrelationship between short-video addiction and social contact, this paper innovatively decomposes the traditional concept of social contact into two parts: online social contact and offline social activities. Using an innovative sampling method, this study takes students from the University of Macau (N = 333) as the study population to better measure the social contact of those who rely on online forms of socialization in the post-epidemic era. On the basis of more comprehensive sampling, a questionnaire analysis using the structural equation model (SEM) analysis and in-depth interviews exploring the relationship between short video addiction and the intensity of social contact were conducted. The analysis results show that participation in social activities has a significant inhibitory effect on college students’ use of short videos (β= -1.428, P < 0.001). Notably, there is a positive correlation between social connections and university students’ use of short videos through further social activities participation, reflecting a mutually reinforcing relationship between short video use and social contact. Further interviews and exploration of this influence mechanism revealed that the popularity of short videos may increase people’s social anxiety, making it difficult for them to realize there is a problem when addicted, and leading to potential mental health issues. In the post-epidemic era, people’s socialization and social contacts are gradually moving towards a combined virtual-reality approach as the impact of short-form video is further strengthened. This shift promotes social community while also creating concerns about related psychosocial issues.