Can Playing Table Tennis Reduce Short Video Addiction?
Engaging in a 16-week table tennis program significantly reduced college students' addiction to short videos by correcting negative cognitive biases and boosting self-control.
Source
The impact of table tennis intervention on short video addiction among college students in China: the chained mediation effect of cognitive bias and self-control
What they did
Researchers recruited 60 Chinese college students diagnosed with severe short video addiction and randomly split them into two groups. The experimental group completed a 16-week table tennis program consisting of three 60-minute sessions per week, while the control group maintained their normal routine without extra exercise. Both groups completed self-report scales measuring video addiction, cognitive bias, and self-control before and after the 16-week study.
What they found
The table tennis group showed significant reductions in short video addiction and negative cognitive biases, alongside improved self-control, whereas the control group showed no change. Path analysis revealed that table tennis directly lowered addiction levels and also worked indirectly by decreasing negative cognitive biases and boosting self-control. Combined, these two psychological improvements accounted for over 68% of the intervention's total beneficial effect.
The limits
What it doesn't show
The study cannot rule out whether the benefits were unique to table tennis or simply due to increased social interaction and attention, as the control group was passive rather than active. Additionally, because all outcomes were measured using self-report surveys, the results may be subject to social desirability bias rather than representing actual changes in real-world screen time. Finally, because the sample was drawn from a single university in China, the findings may not generalize to other populations or cultural contexts.
Key terms
- Short video addiction
- A behavioral dependency characterized by an inability to control the consumption of short-form video clips, leading to negative impacts on daily life.
- Cognitive bias
- A systematic pattern of deviation from rationality in judgment, where individuals selectively process information that aligns with negative traits or expectations.
- Self-control
- The capacity to regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in the face of temptations and impulses to achieve long-term goals.
- Chain mediation
- A statistical model where an independent variable influences a dependent variable through a sequence of multiple mediator variables in a specific order.
- Active control group
- A group of participants in an experiment who receive an alternative treatment or activity designed to control for factors like attention or social contact.
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Quiz yourself
How did the researchers diagnose severe short video addiction for recruitment in this study?
Common questions
Why did the researchers choose table tennis specifically over other sports?
Table tennis requires rapid decision-making, visual attention, and social interaction, which the researchers believed would target the specific executive function deficits and social isolation linked to video addiction.
How did they make sure participants were actually addicted to short videos?
Participants were screened using a standardized scale and smartphone screen-time reports, ensuring they met the diagnostic criteria for severe addiction, which included an average daily usage of four or more hours.
Did the control group do any exercise at all?
The control group continued their regular physical activities but did not participate in any structured physical exercise intervention during the 16-week study period.
What does the chain mediation path actually mean in real life?
It means that playing table tennis first helped correct students' distorted thinking patterns (cognitive bias), which then naturally made it easier for them to resist impulses (improving self-control), ultimately helping them reduce their screen time.
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