What is it and why does 'Speedwatching' happen, a booming phenomenon among the young and not so young?

Videos, music, podcasts… Today everything is susceptible to being accelerated. This phenomenon, known as ‘speedwatching’, is increasingly common, especially among the youngest. It is about increasing the playback speed of a content to consume it faster.

YouTube currently supports viewing at 0.25x, 0.5x, 0.75x, normal, 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x, and 2x. Although this platform was the first to offer this possibility, today most audiovisual content platforms also have it.

In fact, this trend has reached WhatsApp audio, which since the last update can already be heard accelerated. Also podcasts, according to a report by Ivoox, 3.64% of the users of its platform always speed up the reproduction of the chapters, while 8.36% admit to doing so occasionally.

In the world of social networks this phenomenon is also growing. One only has to see the resounding success of a platform like TikTok, which has experienced spectacular growth thanks to the fast audiovisual content and continuous consumption it offers.

According to a report prepared by the leading digital security platform for families Qustodio, the time spent using TikTok among minors has skyrocketed by 210%, going from 31 minutes a day in 2019 to 96 last year.

Without going any further, other social networks as consolidated as Instagram have created ‘Reels’, their own version of these quick videos to try to compete with the Chinese giant.

But… what is the reason for speeding up content? To be able to consume more variety in less time? Qustodio experts say that one of the main causes of this new digital behavior is what is known as FOMO, which stands for “Fear of missing out”.

This phenomenon consists of being afraid of missing out on exciting events or events that will later focus on the debate on social networks. In short, it is the fear of being left out of the social conversation.

As users do not want to be left out of these debates, they choose to see the latest video, the latest series or the latest accelerated reflection. In this way, they are able to cover more and also express their opinions on social networks more immediately.