Immediacy, Predatory Data, and Cruel Optimism: Explaining Persistent Engagement on Short-Form Video Platforms

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-777-4_53How to use a DOI?

Keywords

short-form video platforms; digital sociology; attention economy; immediacy; predatory data; cruel optimism

Abstract

This article examines why users often find it difficult to disengage from short-form video platforms such as TikTok, even when they are aware of the negative effects of prolonged use. Rather than treating this persistent attachment as merely a problem of individual self-control, the article understands it as a structural outcome of contemporary platform environments. Drawing on Anna Kornbluh’s concept of immediacy, Anita Say Chan’s notion of predatory data, and Lauren Berlant’s theory of cruel optimism, the article argues that these platforms sustain continued use through the interaction of temporal compression, data extraction, and affective attachment. Features such as autoplay, infinite scrolling, and looped content capture users within an intensified present and reduce opportunities for conscious reflection. At the same time, everyday actions, including scrolling, pausing, and interacting, are transformed into behavioural data that can be used to personalise content and optimise platform engagement. Finally, users remain attached to these platforms because they repeatedly offer small promises of pleasure, relaxation, connection, or future satisfaction, even when such promises are only partially fulfilled. By bringing these three concepts together, the article shows that excessive platform use should not be understood only as addiction or weak self-control, but as the result of a digital system that actively organises attention, extracts value, and sustains desire. This analysis contributes to digital sociology and critical platform studies by reframing short-form video engagement as a socially, technologically, and affectively structured condition.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Xuanlin Wang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
TI  - Immediacy, Predatory Data, and Cruel Optimism: Explaining Persistent Engagement on Short-Form Video Platforms
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 8th International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 495
EP  - 500
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-777-4_53
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-777-4_53
ID  - Wang2026
ER  -