Some parents believe that children can learn things by watching short videos. But being able to learn does not mean the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. To judge the impact of short videos, we should not only look at the content but also consider what kind of brain mechanisms they train in children. Breaking the issue into three levels makes it very clear.

First level: Short videos can provide information, but information is not equivalent to learning. True learning at least includes understanding, memory, structuring, transfer, and application. The advantage of short videos is high information density, but their fatal flaw is fragmentation. Children may watch videos about history, science, or English vocabulary, seeming to "learn a lot," but these knowledge points are often isolated, unstructured, and lack output. The result is "having seen a lot," but not being able to use, explain, or infer. This is more like browsing information rather than mastery.

Second level: The greater impact lies not in knowledge but in attention and reward systems. The goal of short video platforms is not education but engagement time. They rely on strong stimulation, quick switching, and instant feedback to continuously train children in three ways: shortening attention span, reducing tolerance for boredom, and outsourcing motivation—without stimulation, they don’t want to do anything. True learning, however, requires sustained focus, endurance of boredom, and solving problems amid pauses. The biggest risk of short videos is making it increasingly difficult for children to enter deep learning modes, which is the result of the nervous system being repeatedly reinforced.

Third level: Short videos will change children’s learning personality. The core of learning is not just receiving conclusions but asking questions and constructing understanding. Short videos provide polished conclusions, edited rhythms, and packaged emotions. Children don’t need to go through "I don’t understand—try again—I finally get it." Over time, this can create an implicit expectation: the world should always give me freshness. This affects reading, writing, problem-solving, long-term projects, and even how children face setbacks in the future.

So, returning to the original question: Is watching short videos more beneficial than harmful? The only criterion is one sentence—are short videos serving the child's goals, or are they training children to depend on stimulation? If short videos are limited in time, content is filtered, and used for specific learning topics with discussion, recording, and output, they can be tools. But if children endlessly scroll, watch impulsively when emotions rise, or use them to fill boredom, then even if they gain knowledge, the disadvantages can easily outweigh the benefits because they harm the foundational abilities of learning.

Finally, here is a simple self-test: don’t ask children what they watched. Instead, ask three questions: After leaving short videos, can they clearly, completely, and logically explain the content? Can they write it into a paragraph or draw a small diagram? Can they verify or practice something based on it? If they can’t do all three, it’s likely just stimulating consumption rather than true learning.