#cognitive-load — Public Fediverse posts

DATE: July 24, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: New study links digital “brain rot” to a cascading sequence of psychological burdens

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-digital-brain-rot-can-quietly-lead-to-depression/

The passive consumption of endless short-form videos creates a specific type of cognitive fatigue popularly known as brain rot. A new study reveals that this digital exhaustion does not lead directly to depression, but rather sets off a predictable psychological chain reaction. The findings suggest that endless scrolling drains mental energy and induces burnout, which in turn elevates stress and anxiety before eventually culminating in depressive symptoms. The research was published in Psychological Reports.

In recent years, social media interaction has shifted away from active communication and toward passive observation. Platforms driven by algorithms feed users a relentless stream of highly stimulating short videos. This structural shift has changed how young people process information on a daily basis.

A team of researchers led by psychology professor Hasan Batmaz, along with Cemile Büşra Özsağır and Halise Arslan Şekkeli at Karabük University in Turkey, sought to understand the psychological toll of this shifting digital landscape. They focused on a phenomenon that internet culture has dubbed brain rot. The term gained so much cultural traction that Oxford University Press named it their word of the year for 2024.

The researchers wanted to elevate the concept from popular internet slang into a measurable psychological condition. They define brain rot as a state of mental fog, fragmented attention, and cognitive overload resulting from continuous exposure to low-quality digital content. This condition differs from traditional technology-related stress, which often comes from demanding workloads or the pressure to learn new software.

Brain rot also differs from video game addiction. Gamers usually experience high levels of stimulation and active engagement while navigating virtual worlds. In contrast, those caught in algorithmic scrolling loops exist in a passive, zombie-like state where voluntary self-control is diminished.

To explain how this happens, the researchers utilized a framework known as cognitive load theory. This theory suggests that the human mind has a very limited working memory capacity. Short-form videos force the brain to undergo rapid context switching with every flick of the finger.

A user might scroll from a comedic skit to a tragic news story, and then to a cooking tutorial, all within a span of thirty seconds. The brain never gets a chance to rest, process the information, or build long-term memories. This constant bombardment acts as an extraneous load that completely overwhelms the mental system.

The brain attempts to conserve its remaining energy by slowing down and blunting emotional responses. Yet, the unpredictable rewards of social media algorithms keep dopamine pathways engaged. The individual remains locked in a scrolling loop even as their cognitive resources run entirely dry.

To test how this mental drainage affects psychological well-being, the investigators surveyed 439 young adults. When asked about their daily routines, more than half of the participants reported using social media for five hours or more each day. About a quarter of the group spent at least seven hours scrolling.

Participants completed a newly developed scale designed to measure their levels of cognitive fatigue from digital engagement. They also filled out validated psychological assessments evaluating their current levels of burnout, stress, anxiety, and depression. Because individuals possess different baseline abilities to handle emotional distress, the researchers monitored for emotional dysregulation.

This trait reflects how well a person can identify and modulate their own feelings. By controlling for this factor, the team could better isolate the specific effects of digital content exhaustion on mental health. The data ultimately revealed a distinct stepping-stone path between digital consumption and mental distress.

Once the researchers accounted for intermediate psychological burdens, they found that brain rot was not statistically significant as a direct predictor of depression. The mental fatigue of scrolling does not instantly make someone depressed. Instead, cognitive overload acts as a severe drain on a person’s psychological reserves.

The study found that brain rot strongly predicts burnout. Burnout acts as a pivotal transitional phase in the digital mental health cycle. When people lose their mental and emotional energy to endless digital consumption, they find themselves unable to cope with the normal demands of daily life.

This lack of internal resources triggers secondary psychological reactions. The researchers observed that burnout directly elevates both stress and anxiety levels. As stress and anxiety grow, the individual descends further into psychological distress.

Ultimately, the combination of high stress and anxiety precipitates symptoms of depression. The researchers characterize depression as a final state of defensive shutdown, where an overwhelmed system simply ceases its active coping efforts. At this terminal stage, the brain withdraws to preserve whatever little energy remains.

This progressive chain reaction is often described in psychological circles as a loss spiral. One initial loss of energy inevitably breeds further, accelerated losses. Endless scrolling acts as the original catalyst for this destructive sequence.

The study also highlighted notable gender differences in how these digital burdens unfold. Women reported higher levels of cognitive fatigue and burnout than men did. They also experienced greater stress and anxiety in relation to their digital habits.

Despite these differences in the earlier stages of the psychological sequence, men and women reported similar overall levels of depression. The research team noted that depression is a multifaceted condition shaped by numerous life factors beyond just digital routines. A person’s innate ability to navigate their own feelings played a substantial role in the severity of their symptoms across the board.

Participants who struggled with emotional dysregulation experienced amplified levels of burnout, stress, and anxiety. Cultivating emotional flexibility might provide a natural buffer against the bombardment of digital content. Individuals who can effectively process their frustration and boredom are less likely to fall into the deepest points of the loss spiral.

These insights could help shape future clinical treatments for digital fatigue. Simply telling young adults to put down their phones often fails as a standalone behavioral intervention. Therapies focusing on restoring depleted emotional resources and managing burnout might prove far more effective in halting the slide toward depression.

The researchers acknowledged a few limitations in their methodology. The study surveyed participants at a single point in time, meaning the data cannot definitively prove a long-term sequence of events. While the findings firmly align with established psychological models, observing people over several years would provide more concrete evidence of causality.

The research team also relied on subjective surveys. Participants might underestimate their actual digital usage or misjudge their own cognitive impairment. Incorporating objective data, such as actual screen time metrics from tracking software, would bolster future investigations.

The participants were mostly university students, representing a narrow demographic slice of the population. Older adults or young children might process digital media quite differently. Expanding the age range in future studies would help determine if this loss spiral is a universal human response to algorithmic media.

Scientists also caution against treating normal generational habits as inherently sick or broken behaviors. While extreme digital consumption carries real mental health consequences, researchers want to avoid creating moral panics around new technology. The focus should remain on evaluating the addictive design features of the platforms themselves.

The study, “The Cognitive Cost of Brain Rot: Indirect Effects on Depression via Burnout, Stress, and Anxiety,” was authored by Hasan Batmaz, Cemile Büşra Özsağır, and Halise Arslan Şekkeli.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-digital-brain-rot-can-quietly-lead-to-depression/

-------------------------------------------------

Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org

Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BrainRot #DigitalFatigue #CognitiveLoad #Burnout #MentalHealth #StressAndAnxiety #DepressionAwareness #AlgorithmicScrolling #PassiveConsumption #EmotionalRegulation

DATE: July 24, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: New study links digital “brain rot” to a cascading sequence of psychological burdens

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-digital-brain-rot-can-quietly-lead-to-depression/

The passive consumption of endless short-form videos creates a specific type of cognitive fatigue popularly known as brain rot. A new study reveals that this digital exhaustion does not lead directly to depression, but rather sets off a predictable psychological chain reaction. The findings suggest that endless scrolling drains mental energy and induces burnout, which in turn elevates stress and anxiety before eventually culminating in depressive symptoms. The research was published in Psychological Reports.

In recent years, social media interaction has shifted away from active communication and toward passive observation. Platforms driven by algorithms feed users a relentless stream of highly stimulating short videos. This structural shift has changed how young people process information on a daily basis.

A team of researchers led by psychology professor Hasan Batmaz, along with Cemile Büşra Özsağır and Halise Arslan Şekkeli at Karabük University in Turkey, sought to understand the psychological toll of this shifting digital landscape. They focused on a phenomenon that internet culture has dubbed brain rot. The term gained so much cultural traction that Oxford University Press named it their word of the year for 2024.

The researchers wanted to elevate the concept from popular internet slang into a measurable psychological condition. They define brain rot as a state of mental fog, fragmented attention, and cognitive overload resulting from continuous exposure to low-quality digital content. This condition differs from traditional technology-related stress, which often comes from demanding workloads or the pressure to learn new software.

Brain rot also differs from video game addiction. Gamers usually experience high levels of stimulation and active engagement while navigating virtual worlds. In contrast, those caught in algorithmic scrolling loops exist in a passive, zombie-like state where voluntary self-control is diminished.

To explain how this happens, the researchers utilized a framework known as cognitive load theory. This theory suggests that the human mind has a very limited working memory capacity. Short-form videos force the brain to undergo rapid context switching with every flick of the finger.

A user might scroll from a comedic skit to a tragic news story, and then to a cooking tutorial, all within a span of thirty seconds. The brain never gets a chance to rest, process the information, or build long-term memories. This constant bombardment acts as an extraneous load that completely overwhelms the mental system.

The brain attempts to conserve its remaining energy by slowing down and blunting emotional responses. Yet, the unpredictable rewards of social media algorithms keep dopamine pathways engaged. The individual remains locked in a scrolling loop even as their cognitive resources run entirely dry.

To test how this mental drainage affects psychological well-being, the investigators surveyed 439 young adults. When asked about their daily routines, more than half of the participants reported using social media for five hours or more each day. About a quarter of the group spent at least seven hours scrolling.

Participants completed a newly developed scale designed to measure their levels of cognitive fatigue from digital engagement. They also filled out validated psychological assessments evaluating their current levels of burnout, stress, anxiety, and depression. Because individuals possess different baseline abilities to handle emotional distress, the researchers monitored for emotional dysregulation.

This trait reflects how well a person can identify and modulate their own feelings. By controlling for this factor, the team could better isolate the specific effects of digital content exhaustion on mental health. The data ultimately revealed a distinct stepping-stone path between digital consumption and mental distress.

Once the researchers accounted for intermediate psychological burdens, they found that brain rot was not statistically significant as a direct predictor of depression. The mental fatigue of scrolling does not instantly make someone depressed. Instead, cognitive overload acts as a severe drain on a person’s psychological reserves.

The study found that brain rot strongly predicts burnout. Burnout acts as a pivotal transitional phase in the digital mental health cycle. When people lose their mental and emotional energy to endless digital consumption, they find themselves unable to cope with the normal demands of daily life.

This lack of internal resources triggers secondary psychological reactions. The researchers observed that burnout directly elevates both stress and anxiety levels. As stress and anxiety grow, the individual descends further into psychological distress.

Ultimately, the combination of high stress and anxiety precipitates symptoms of depression. The researchers characterize depression as a final state of defensive shutdown, where an overwhelmed system simply ceases its active coping efforts. At this terminal stage, the brain withdraws to preserve whatever little energy remains.

This progressive chain reaction is often described in psychological circles as a loss spiral. One initial loss of energy inevitably breeds further, accelerated losses. Endless scrolling acts as the original catalyst for this destructive sequence.

The study also highlighted notable gender differences in how these digital burdens unfold. Women reported higher levels of cognitive fatigue and burnout than men did. They also experienced greater stress and anxiety in relation to their digital habits.

Despite these differences in the earlier stages of the psychological sequence, men and women reported similar overall levels of depression. The research team noted that depression is a multifaceted condition shaped by numerous life factors beyond just digital routines. A person’s innate ability to navigate their own feelings played a substantial role in the severity of their symptoms across the board.

Participants who struggled with emotional dysregulation experienced amplified levels of burnout, stress, and anxiety. Cultivating emotional flexibility might provide a natural buffer against the bombardment of digital content. Individuals who can effectively process their frustration and boredom are less likely to fall into the deepest points of the loss spiral.

These insights could help shape future clinical treatments for digital fatigue. Simply telling young adults to put down their phones often fails as a standalone behavioral intervention. Therapies focusing on restoring depleted emotional resources and managing burnout might prove far more effective in halting the slide toward depression.

The researchers acknowledged a few limitations in their methodology. The study surveyed participants at a single point in time, meaning the data cannot definitively prove a long-term sequence of events. While the findings firmly align with established psychological models, observing people over several years would provide more concrete evidence of causality.

The research team also relied on subjective surveys. Participants might underestimate their actual digital usage or misjudge their own cognitive impairment. Incorporating objective data, such as actual screen time metrics from tracking software, would bolster future investigations.

The participants were mostly university students, representing a narrow demographic slice of the population. Older adults or young children might process digital media quite differently. Expanding the age range in future studies would help determine if this loss spiral is a universal human response to algorithmic media.

Scientists also caution against treating normal generational habits as inherently sick or broken behaviors. While extreme digital consumption carries real mental health consequences, researchers want to avoid creating moral panics around new technology. The focus should remain on evaluating the addictive design features of the platforms themselves.

The study, “The Cognitive Cost of Brain Rot: Indirect Effects on Depression via Burnout, Stress, and Anxiety,” was authored by Hasan Batmaz, Cemile Büşra Özsağır, and Halise Arslan Şekkeli.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-digital-brain-rot-can-quietly-lead-to-depression/

-------------------------------------------------

Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org

Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BrainRot #DigitalFatigue #CognitiveLoad #Burnout #MentalHealth #StressAndAnxiety #DepressionAwareness #AlgorithmicScrolling #PassiveConsumption #EmotionalRegulation

🇬🇧 𝗧𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗺: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗮 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝗔𝗗𝗛𝗗 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗘𝗹𝘀𝗲)

𝖳𝗂𝗋𝖾𝖽 𝗈𝖿 𝖠𝖨 𝗀𝖾𝗇𝖾𝗋𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗐𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝖾𝗑𝗍? 𝖫𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗇 𝗁𝗈𝗐 𝗍𝗈 𝗆𝖺𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖦𝖾𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗂 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝖠𝖨 𝗍𝗈𝗈𝗅𝗌 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗉𝗋𝖾𝖼𝗂𝗌𝖾, 𝗍𝖺𝗋𝗀𝖾𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗂𝗇𝗌𝗍𝗋𝗎𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖼𝗎𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗆 𝖦𝖾𝗆𝗌. 𝖣𝗂𝗌𝖼𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗋 𝗁𝗈𝗐 𝖺 𝗍𝖺𝗂𝗅𝗈𝗋𝖾𝖽 𝖠𝖣𝖧𝖣-𝖿𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖽𝗅𝗒 𝖥𝗈𝖼𝗎𝗌 𝖬𝗈𝖽𝖾 𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝗋𝖾𝖽𝗎𝖼𝖾 𝖼𝗈𝗀𝗇𝗂𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗅𝗈𝖺𝖽 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗂𝗆𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖽𝖺𝗂𝗅𝗒 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗄𝖿𝗅𝗈𝗐 𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗇𝗈𝗐.

https://dariusz.wieckiewicz.org/en/taming-ai-overwhelm/

#GoogleGemini
#GeminiGems
#ADHD
#Neurodiversity
#Accessibility
#CognitiveLoad
#Productivity
#FocusMode
#CustomAI
#PromptEngineering

🇬🇧 𝗧𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗺: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗮 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝗔𝗗𝗛𝗗 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗘𝗹𝘀𝗲)

𝖳𝗂𝗋𝖾𝖽 𝗈𝖿 𝖠𝖨 𝗀𝖾𝗇𝖾𝗋𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗐𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝖾𝗑𝗍? 𝖫𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗇 𝗁𝗈𝗐 𝗍𝗈 𝗆𝖺𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖦𝖾𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗂 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝖠𝖨 𝗍𝗈𝗈𝗅𝗌 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗉𝗋𝖾𝖼𝗂𝗌𝖾, 𝗍𝖺𝗋𝗀𝖾𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗂𝗇𝗌𝗍𝗋𝗎𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖼𝗎𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗆 𝖦𝖾𝗆𝗌. 𝖣𝗂𝗌𝖼𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗋 𝗁𝗈𝗐 𝖺 𝗍𝖺𝗂𝗅𝗈𝗋𝖾𝖽 𝖠𝖣𝖧𝖣-𝖿𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖽𝗅𝗒 𝖥𝗈𝖼𝗎𝗌 𝖬𝗈𝖽𝖾 𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝗋𝖾𝖽𝗎𝖼𝖾 𝖼𝗈𝗀𝗇𝗂𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗅𝗈𝖺𝖽 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗂𝗆𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖽𝖺𝗂𝗅𝗒 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗄𝖿𝗅𝗈𝗐 𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗇𝗈𝗐.

https://dariusz.wieckiewicz.org/en/taming-ai-overwhelm/

#GoogleGemini
#GeminiGems
#ADHD
#Neurodiversity
#Accessibility
#CognitiveLoad
#Productivity
#FocusMode
#CustomAI
#PromptEngineering

Good discussion on Kate Manne's blog about gendered aspects of planning, cognitive load, anxiety, blame etc, especially as a parent.

"In Defense of Mom Anxiety"

(Substack, sorry)

https://katemanne.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-mom-anxiety

#planning #parenting #CognitiveLoad #women #gender #anxiety

Good discussion on Kate Manne's blog about gendered aspects of planning, cognitive load, anxiety, blame etc, especially as a parent.

"In Defense of Mom Anxiety"

(Substack, sorry)

https://katemanne.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-mom-anxiety

#planning #parenting #CognitiveLoad #women #gender #anxiety

Eye contact is an over-stimulation of the "sixth sense."

— An Autistic Person

I wrote a #blog #post going into a bit more detail: https://textualmirror.mataroa.blog/blog/a-proposal-for-pronoun-usage-by-llms-other-non-conscious-entities/

(Written about "AI", but without using "AI".)

@leadore
@ancientsounds

Thanks for helping me think about this!

#AI #AIs #LLM #LLMs #confusion #perceptualDistortion #cognitiveLoad #TextualMirror #Mataroa #blogpost #pronoun #pronouns #selfreference #bot #bots #chatbot #chatbots #ChatGPT #Mistral #MistralAI #Claude #Anthropic #OpenAI #HuggingFace #consciousness #sentience #thinking #language #linguistics #agenticAI

What if we used specific first- and second-person pronouns for non-conscious entities? I think this might help avoid #confusion and #cognitiveload when interacting with #bots, etc. Any #linguists or #conlangers here who have seen attempted solutions to this problem (or who have a good idea of how it might be solved)?

#AI #LLM #LLMs #bot #chatbot #ChatGPT #Claude #pronoun #pronouns #linguistics #linguist #conlang #conlanger #agenticAI

What if we used specific first- and second-person pronouns for non-conscious entities? I think this might help avoid #confusion and #cognitiveload when interacting with #bots, etc. Any #linguists or #conlangers here who have seen attempted solutions to this problem (or who have a good idea of how it might be solved)?

#AI #LLM #LLMs #bot #chatbot #ChatGPT #Claude #pronoun #pronouns #linguistics #linguist #conlang #conlanger #agenticAI

DATE: July 6, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------

TITLE: Neuroscientists shed light on the illusion of learning from short videos

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-illusion-of-learning-from-short-videos/

Using social media applications to digest bite-sized educational content actually reduces a person’s ability to remember the information, according to new research. Watching rapid, fragmented clips captures sensory attention but impairs the deep cognitive processing required to pack away long-term memories compared to viewing a slightly longer, continuous video. These results were published in the journal Communications Psychology.

Short video platforms have exploded in popularity across the globe. Driven by highly tuned algorithmic recommendations, these applications deliver an endless feed of brief, visually stimulating clips. Given their highly engaging nature, many users have started treating these platforms as hubs for informal learning. Social media creators frequently post educational content attempting to summarize historical facts, scientific concepts, or news events in less than a minute.

Educational researchers already know that breaking an academic lecture into smaller, coherent chapters helps students retain information. That pedagogical strategy reduces the mental burden on the listener. However, the short videos found on social media are entirely different. They rely heavily on rapid scene changes, disconnected narratives, and intense auditory or visual effects to keep a viewer hooked.

The algorithms powering these short video platforms track user behavior intently, delivering a bespoke feed designed to maximize viewing time. Since users are rewarded with instant gratification in the form of novelty, their brains become accustomed to rapid cycles of stimulation. When a viewer attempts to switch gears and use the same application for serious learning, the underlying habits formed by the platform may fight against the sustained focus required for academic retention.

The problem with this format lies in how the human brain processes and stores new facts. A widely accepted psychological framework suggests that learning requires information to pass through several biological filters. First, a person observes an event, creating a fleeting sensory memory. If the person pays attention, that information enters working memory, which acts as a limited mental scratchpad. If someone continually shifts their attention to new stimuli, the previous thoughts decay before they can be copied into long-term storage.

Meiting Wei and Guang-Heng Dong, researchers based at Yunnan Normal University in China, suspected that the frenetic pace of social media clips would disrupt this chain of events. Along with their colleagues, they designed a sequence of three studies to test whether short videos are truly effective as educational tools.

To ensure a fair test, the researchers first had to rigorously match their video materials. They took a long documentary about travel destinations and extracted a ten-minute segment. For the short video condition, they chopped related footage into five to seven brief clips to mimic the rhythm of a social media feed. They interspersed these segments with non-informative filler shots, like silent aerial drone footage of landscapes. This ensured that the spoken word count and total factual information remained identical across both experimental setups.

In the first experiment, 180 college students participated in what cognitive psychologists call an incidental learning task. The students thought they were simply taking a relaxing break to watch travel videos. They had no idea they were going to be tested. Immediately after the ten minutes ended, the researchers sprang a quiz on the participants. They then administered a surprise follow-up quiz the very next day.

The individuals who watched the chopped up short videos scored lower on the immediate quiz than those who viewed the continuous documentary. The gap in performance indicated that the rapid context switching of the shorter clips prevented the brain from forming strong initial memories, even when the underlying factual information was identical in both videos.

The second experiment repeated the process with a new group of 185 students. This time, the study featured an intentional learning task. The researchers explicitly told the students to pay close attention because they would be graded on the material later.

Even with deliberate effort, the students in the short video group performed worse on the immediate test. The follow-up test the next day revealed an even greater cost to the fragmented format. The students who intentionally studied the short clips forgot a much higher percentage of their initial knowledge overnight compared to those who watched the continuous video. Putting more effort into focusing on the short videos was simply not enough to overcome the cognitive hurdles created by the format itself.

For the final phase of the project, the team wanted to observe the physical brain activity driving these memory failures. They recruited 59 new participants to watch the videos while resting inside a magnetic resonance imaging scanner. The machine tracked blood flow in real time, highlighting which brain regions were working the hardest.

The researchers did not just look for isolated spikes in brain activity. They used a mathematical technique called inter-subject correlation to measure neural synchronization in the room. When an audience watches a well-crafted movie, their individual brain waves tend to sync up, rising and falling in unison. High synchronization occurs when a piece of media guides a group of people through the exact same sequence of advanced cognitive processing.

When the participants watched the continuous documentary, their brains synchronized deeply across several regions. The superior parietal lobule, an area involved in directing physical attention and integrating sensory input, synchronized heavily. The same was true for the precuneus, an area near the back of the brain tied to episodic memory, self-reflection, and organizing visual events into a coherent timeline. The shared activity suggests the students were actively building comparable mental maps of the content.

In stark contrast, watching the fragmented short videos destroyed that higher-level synchronization. Instead, the viewers’ brains only synchronized in regions responsible for immediate, automatic auditory processing and basic attention. This type of brain activity is known as bottom-up processing, relying on abrupt, flashy stimuli to command attention rather than an overarching narrative structure.

The short video viewers experienced heightened synchronization in areas like the middle frontal gyrus, which reacts to sudden shifts in the environment. This means the viewers were highly alert, but their cognitive resources were trapped reorienting to the flashing imagery rather than absorbing the spoken facts. A hyperactive sensory response leaves very little energetic capacity for the brain to extract meaning from the material.

Finally, the researchers analyzed functional connectivity, which measures how well different brain regions communicate with one another during a task. Forming a lasting memory requires the back of the brain, which processes visual and auditory input, to talk with the front of the brain, which handles executive control and decision making.

The rapid transitions inside the short videos fractured this communication. The connections between the visual cortex and the higher-level cognitive control centers grew weak. By constantly bombarding the senses with novel stimuli, the short clips appeared to trap the brain in a cycle of sensory tracking. The viewers were so busy processing the changing scenery that their brains lacked the bandwidth to package the facts for long-term storage.

Many educators have debated whether the modern classroom needs to adapt to shrinking attention spans by adopting a brisk, media-heavy teaching style. These results suggest a reason for pause. Leaning into ultra-short presentations might accidentally mimic the very digital habits that disrupt memory formation in the first place.

While these results highlight the cognitive toll of fractured digital media, the study authors acknowledge a few caveats. The research relied entirely on healthy college students. The memory impacts could be vastly different in younger children with developing brain structures, or in older adults.

The rigid environment of the brain scanner also prevented the team from simulating the physical aspect of mobile application usage. Participants could not swipe or scroll with their fingers, which is a major component of the dopamine loop associated with modern social media. Adding that physical interaction might alter how the brain allocates its limited attention reserves.

Future work will need to explore how physical scrolling behaviors interact with content formatting to alter how learning occurs. Interventions could also be designed to help students better pace their digital consumption. Until then, these findings suggest that treating brief, overly stimulating media as an educational resource holds hidden mental costs.

The study, “Learning via short videos impairs memory accuracy and reduces brain synchrony,” was authored by Meiting Wei, Yandan Li, Haosen Ni, Zhenglong Li, Jiang Liu, and Guang-Heng Dong.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-illusion-of-learning-from-short-videos/

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DATE: July 6, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
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TITLE: Neuroscientists shed light on the illusion of learning from short videos

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-illusion-of-learning-from-short-videos/

Using social media applications to digest bite-sized educational content actually reduces a person’s ability to remember the information, according to new research. Watching rapid, fragmented clips captures sensory attention but impairs the deep cognitive processing required to pack away long-term memories compared to viewing a slightly longer, continuous video. These results were published in the journal Communications Psychology.

Short video platforms have exploded in popularity across the globe. Driven by highly tuned algorithmic recommendations, these applications deliver an endless feed of brief, visually stimulating clips. Given their highly engaging nature, many users have started treating these platforms as hubs for informal learning. Social media creators frequently post educational content attempting to summarize historical facts, scientific concepts, or news events in less than a minute.

Educational researchers already know that breaking an academic lecture into smaller, coherent chapters helps students retain information. That pedagogical strategy reduces the mental burden on the listener. However, the short videos found on social media are entirely different. They rely heavily on rapid scene changes, disconnected narratives, and intense auditory or visual effects to keep a viewer hooked.

The algorithms powering these short video platforms track user behavior intently, delivering a bespoke feed designed to maximize viewing time. Since users are rewarded with instant gratification in the form of novelty, their brains become accustomed to rapid cycles of stimulation. When a viewer attempts to switch gears and use the same application for serious learning, the underlying habits formed by the platform may fight against the sustained focus required for academic retention.

The problem with this format lies in how the human brain processes and stores new facts. A widely accepted psychological framework suggests that learning requires information to pass through several biological filters. First, a person observes an event, creating a fleeting sensory memory. If the person pays attention, that information enters working memory, which acts as a limited mental scratchpad. If someone continually shifts their attention to new stimuli, the previous thoughts decay before they can be copied into long-term storage.

Meiting Wei and Guang-Heng Dong, researchers based at Yunnan Normal University in China, suspected that the frenetic pace of social media clips would disrupt this chain of events. Along with their colleagues, they designed a sequence of three studies to test whether short videos are truly effective as educational tools.

To ensure a fair test, the researchers first had to rigorously match their video materials. They took a long documentary about travel destinations and extracted a ten-minute segment. For the short video condition, they chopped related footage into five to seven brief clips to mimic the rhythm of a social media feed. They interspersed these segments with non-informative filler shots, like silent aerial drone footage of landscapes. This ensured that the spoken word count and total factual information remained identical across both experimental setups.

In the first experiment, 180 college students participated in what cognitive psychologists call an incidental learning task. The students thought they were simply taking a relaxing break to watch travel videos. They had no idea they were going to be tested. Immediately after the ten minutes ended, the researchers sprang a quiz on the participants. They then administered a surprise follow-up quiz the very next day.

The individuals who watched the chopped up short videos scored lower on the immediate quiz than those who viewed the continuous documentary. The gap in performance indicated that the rapid context switching of the shorter clips prevented the brain from forming strong initial memories, even when the underlying factual information was identical in both videos.

The second experiment repeated the process with a new group of 185 students. This time, the study featured an intentional learning task. The researchers explicitly told the students to pay close attention because they would be graded on the material later.

Even with deliberate effort, the students in the short video group performed worse on the immediate test. The follow-up test the next day revealed an even greater cost to the fragmented format. The students who intentionally studied the short clips forgot a much higher percentage of their initial knowledge overnight compared to those who watched the continuous video. Putting more effort into focusing on the short videos was simply not enough to overcome the cognitive hurdles created by the format itself.

For the final phase of the project, the team wanted to observe the physical brain activity driving these memory failures. They recruited 59 new participants to watch the videos while resting inside a magnetic resonance imaging scanner. The machine tracked blood flow in real time, highlighting which brain regions were working the hardest.

The researchers did not just look for isolated spikes in brain activity. They used a mathematical technique called inter-subject correlation to measure neural synchronization in the room. When an audience watches a well-crafted movie, their individual brain waves tend to sync up, rising and falling in unison. High synchronization occurs when a piece of media guides a group of people through the exact same sequence of advanced cognitive processing.

When the participants watched the continuous documentary, their brains synchronized deeply across several regions. The superior parietal lobule, an area involved in directing physical attention and integrating sensory input, synchronized heavily. The same was true for the precuneus, an area near the back of the brain tied to episodic memory, self-reflection, and organizing visual events into a coherent timeline. The shared activity suggests the students were actively building comparable mental maps of the content.

In stark contrast, watching the fragmented short videos destroyed that higher-level synchronization. Instead, the viewers’ brains only synchronized in regions responsible for immediate, automatic auditory processing and basic attention. This type of brain activity is known as bottom-up processing, relying on abrupt, flashy stimuli to command attention rather than an overarching narrative structure.

The short video viewers experienced heightened synchronization in areas like the middle frontal gyrus, which reacts to sudden shifts in the environment. This means the viewers were highly alert, but their cognitive resources were trapped reorienting to the flashing imagery rather than absorbing the spoken facts. A hyperactive sensory response leaves very little energetic capacity for the brain to extract meaning from the material.

Finally, the researchers analyzed functional connectivity, which measures how well different brain regions communicate with one another during a task. Forming a lasting memory requires the back of the brain, which processes visual and auditory input, to talk with the front of the brain, which handles executive control and decision making.

The rapid transitions inside the short videos fractured this communication. The connections between the visual cortex and the higher-level cognitive control centers grew weak. By constantly bombarding the senses with novel stimuli, the short clips appeared to trap the brain in a cycle of sensory tracking. The viewers were so busy processing the changing scenery that their brains lacked the bandwidth to package the facts for long-term storage.

Many educators have debated whether the modern classroom needs to adapt to shrinking attention spans by adopting a brisk, media-heavy teaching style. These results suggest a reason for pause. Leaning into ultra-short presentations might accidentally mimic the very digital habits that disrupt memory formation in the first place.

While these results highlight the cognitive toll of fractured digital media, the study authors acknowledge a few caveats. The research relied entirely on healthy college students. The memory impacts could be vastly different in younger children with developing brain structures, or in older adults.

The rigid environment of the brain scanner also prevented the team from simulating the physical aspect of mobile application usage. Participants could not swipe or scroll with their fingers, which is a major component of the dopamine loop associated with modern social media. Adding that physical interaction might alter how the brain allocates its limited attention reserves.

Future work will need to explore how physical scrolling behaviors interact with content formatting to alter how learning occurs. Interventions could also be designed to help students better pace their digital consumption. Until then, these findings suggest that treating brief, overly stimulating media as an educational resource holds hidden mental costs.

The study, “Learning via short videos impairs memory accuracy and reduces brain synchrony,” was authored by Meiting Wei, Yandan Li, Haosen Ni, Zhenglong Li, Jiang Liu, and Guang-Heng Dong.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-illusion-of-learning-from-short-videos/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MemoryResearch #ShortVideoEffect #EducationalVideo #BrainSynchronization #CognitiveLoad #MediaLiteracy #LearningScience #AttentionSpan #LongTermMemory #VideoEducation

Much food for thought at the tradeoffs between usability, security, and more. A consumer protection authority (CCPA) in India fined Zepto INR 700,000 a few months ago for using dark patterns. The amount is chicken feed compared with how much they may have ripped consumers off via those patterns.

https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/business-of-life/tap-regret-repeat-pitfalls-of-frictionless-design-11781772392426.html

#FrictionlessDesign #UXDesign #DarkPatterns #EthicalUX #DigitalWellbeing #HumanCenteredDesign #UserExperience #DesignEthics #AttentionEconomy #CognitiveLoad

Much food for thought at the tradeoffs between usability, security, and more. A consumer protection authority (CCPA) in India fined Zepto INR 700,000 a few months ago for using dark patterns. The amount is chicken feed compared with how much they may have ripped consumers off via those patterns.

https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/business-of-life/tap-regret-repeat-pitfalls-of-frictionless-design-11781772392426.html

#FrictionlessDesign #UXDesign #DarkPatterns #EthicalUX #DigitalWellbeing #HumanCenteredDesign #UserExperience #DesignEthics #AttentionEconomy #CognitiveLoad

I think drag-and-drop as a #UX mechanism has a second-class feel. Both in implementation, like it's not designed to be the best way to do anything, and in attitude, like developers and designers don't want to support it.

I posit that tapping buttons is a cognitive drain that has unnecessarily taxed our #attention tremendously.

Alternatives have fallen short, but I believe I can do better.

#HCI #uxdesign #CognitiveLoad

I think drag-and-drop as a #UX mechanism has a second-class feel. Both in implementation, like it's not designed to be the best way to do anything, and in attitude, like developers and designers don't want to support it.

I posit that tapping buttons is a cognitive drain that has unnecessarily taxed our #attention tremendously.

Alternatives have fallen short, but I believe I can do better.

#HCI #uxdesign #CognitiveLoad

Life's a journey (anche nel marketing), not a destination.

#Wayfinding design (design dell’orientamento): tecnica che sfrutta principi di psicologia cognitiva, neuromarketing e comunicazione visiva in modo efficace e "silenzioso".

Dal punto di vista visual, la dominanza assoluta del rosso restituisce una percezione precisa, perché il #rosso cattura l'attenzione più velocemente di quasi tutti gli altri colori, aumenta il livello di attivazione fisiologica (arousal), comunica urgenza, energia, movimento e direzione ed emerge immediatamente nel campo visivo periferico.

Il contrasto del bianco su rosso è uno dei più leggibili in assoluto.

Il cervello impiega pochissimo tempo a decodificare:

• testo
• simboli
• frecce

Inoltre elabora le forme prima delle parole e riconosce la direzione prima del contenuto, riducendo il #cognitiveload (carico cognitivo): il messaggio non si interpreta, si comprende subito.

Le pareti laterali rosse creano una sorta di “canale visivo”, questo produce un fenomeno chiamato "forced perspective guidance", dove l’attenzione viene letteralmente compressa verso il centro.

Anche se qui non c’è un marchio visibile, il design comunica:

• efficienza
• precisione
• ordine
• velocità

Sono tutti valori associati inconsciamente alla cultura elvetica, alla #svizzeritudine 🇨🇭

In marketing questo si chiama #brandtransfer: l’esperienza fisica trasferisce valori all’ambiente senza bisogno di loghi.

L'analisi neurologica è l'aspetto più intrigante: riscoprire l'acqua calda!

Sistema 1 di #Kahneman
Questa segnaletica parla quasi esclusivamente al "Sistema 1", ovvero al cervello rapido, intuitivo e automatico.

Non richiede ragionamento di nessun tipo, quello che potremmo assimilare all'istinto.

Il messaggio è:

rosso → attenzione
frecce → scendi
testo → conferma

L’intera sequenza viene elaborata in poche centinaia di millisecondi.

Entra in gioco anche l'effetto orientamento attentivo: le frecce sono uno dei simboli più potenti per il cervello umano, senza ragionamento (vedi sopra).

Una freccia:
• orienta automaticamente lo sguardo
• modifica la distribuzione dell’attenzione
• induce una preparazione motoria nella direzione indicata

In parole semplici, il cervello inizia a “muoversi” prima ancora del nostro corpo, prima ancora di essere coscienti di quel che dobbiamo fare.

Non ultima, c'è una grande alleata del #marketing - e dello spirito! La riduzione dell’incertezza.

L’incertezza spaziale genera stress e quando il cervello non sa dove andare:

• aumenta il consumo cognitivo
• cresce il livello di #cortisolo
• diminuisce la soddisfazione dell’esperienza

Ecco, questa installazione elimina quasi completamente l’ambiguità.

Da ricordare anche che questo tipo di aree di servizio può confondere dopo una media permanenza: da che parte si esce? La macchina sta verso Lucerna o verso Milano? Se esco da qui e non trovo la macchina, sono dalla parte giusta?

Qui arriva il livello più alto della comunicazione visiva: il messaggio smette di essere informazione e diventa comportamento.

Life's a journey (anche nel marketing), not a destination.

#Wayfinding design (design dell’orientamento): tecnica che sfrutta principi di psicologia cognitiva, neuromarketing e comunicazione visiva in modo efficace e "silenzioso".

Dal punto di vista visual, la dominanza assoluta del rosso restituisce una percezione precisa, perché il #rosso cattura l'attenzione più velocemente di quasi tutti gli altri colori, aumenta il livello di attivazione fisiologica (arousal), comunica urgenza, energia, movimento e direzione ed emerge immediatamente nel campo visivo periferico.

Il contrasto del bianco su rosso è uno dei più leggibili in assoluto.

Il cervello impiega pochissimo tempo a decodificare:

• testo
• simboli
• frecce

Inoltre elabora le forme prima delle parole e riconosce la direzione prima del contenuto, riducendo il #cognitiveload (carico cognitivo): il messaggio non si interpreta, si comprende subito.

Le pareti laterali rosse creano una sorta di “canale visivo”, questo produce un fenomeno chiamato "forced perspective guidance", dove l’attenzione viene letteralmente compressa verso il centro.

Anche se qui non c’è un marchio visibile, il design comunica:

• efficienza
• precisione
• ordine
• velocità

Sono tutti valori associati inconsciamente alla cultura elvetica, alla #svizzeritudine 🇨🇭

In marketing questo si chiama #brandtransfer: l’esperienza fisica trasferisce valori all’ambiente senza bisogno di loghi.

L'analisi neurologica è l'aspetto più intrigante: riscoprire l'acqua calda!

Sistema 1 di #Kahneman
Questa segnaletica parla quasi esclusivamente al "Sistema 1", ovvero al cervello rapido, intuitivo e automatico.

Non richiede ragionamento di nessun tipo, quello che potremmo assimilare all'istinto.

Il messaggio è:

rosso → attenzione
frecce → scendi
testo → conferma

L’intera sequenza viene elaborata in poche centinaia di millisecondi.

Entra in gioco anche l'effetto orientamento attentivo: le frecce sono uno dei simboli più potenti per il cervello umano, senza ragionamento (vedi sopra).

Una freccia:
• orienta automaticamente lo sguardo
• modifica la distribuzione dell’attenzione
• induce una preparazione motoria nella direzione indicata

In parole semplici, il cervello inizia a “muoversi” prima ancora del nostro corpo, prima ancora di essere coscienti di quel che dobbiamo fare.

Non ultima, c'è una grande alleata del #marketing - e dello spirito! La riduzione dell’incertezza.

L’incertezza spaziale genera stress e quando il cervello non sa dove andare:

• aumenta il consumo cognitivo
• cresce il livello di #cortisolo
• diminuisce la soddisfazione dell’esperienza

Ecco, questa installazione elimina quasi completamente l’ambiguità.

Da ricordare anche che questo tipo di aree di servizio può confondere dopo una media permanenza: da che parte si esce? La macchina sta verso Lucerna o verso Milano? Se esco da qui e non trovo la macchina, sono dalla parte giusta?

Qui arriva il livello più alto della comunicazione visiva: il messaggio smette di essere informazione e diventa comportamento.

Hook, Line, and Sinker: Why People Still Fall for “Official” Emails

3,206 words, 17 minutes read time.

The digital landscape is a cold, relentless stretch of asphalt where the rain never stops and the shadows are always reaching for your throat. It is an environment built on the fundamental architecture of trust, yet it is that very trust that serves as the primary vector for the modern grift. When we look at the evolution of the phishing landscape, we aren’t just looking at a series of technical failures or a lack of robust filtering; we are looking at the exploitation of the human operating system. Most analysts want to talk about SPF, DKIM, and DMARC as if they are the ultimate shields against the storm, but they often ignore the fact that the most sophisticated code in the world cannot patch a moment of panic. The “Official” email is the modern equivalent of a knock at the door at three in the morning; it carries an inherent authority that bypasses the logical gates of the brain and targets the raw, unrefined nerves of social obligation and fear of consequence.

Analyzing the recent waves of business email compromise and high-stakes credential harvesting, I see a clear pattern that suggests we are losing the war of attrition because we refuse to acknowledge the psychological heavy lifting being done by the adversary. The craft has moved far beyond the broken syntax and desperate pleas of a decade ago, evolving into a surgical instrument that mirrors the exact cadence of corporate bureaucracy. These attackers are not just hackers anymore; they are student of institutional behavior who understand that a well-placed “Urgent Action Required” notice from a spoofed human resources alias is more effective than any brute-force attack. By the time the target realizes the landing page is a mirror of a Microsoft 365 login, the credentials have already been spirited away into a database in a jurisdiction where the law doesn’t have a name.

The Psychological Mechanics of the Digital Ambush

The success of a phishing campaign relies on the deliberate manipulation of cognitive load and the exploitation of ingrained social hierarchies. When an individual receives an email that appears to originate from a high-level executive or a government entity like the Internal Revenue Service, the brain undergoes a shift from analytical processing to a reactive survival mode. This is not a matter of intelligence or technical savvy, as even seasoned administrators have been known to trip over a well-constructed lure when the timing is right. The adversary waits for the moment of highest friction—the end of a quarter, the middle of a migration, or the chaos of a public holiday—to drop a message that demands immediate attention. This creates a sense of urgency that effectively narrows the victim’s field of vision, making them ignore the subtle discrepancies in the sender’s address or the slightly off-kilter phrasing of the call to action.

Furthermore, the concept of social proof is weaponized within these emails to provide a false sense of security that lulls the victim into a state of compliance. Many of these “official” messages are designed to look like a small part of a larger, ongoing process, such as a mandatory security update or a routine document review. By framing the malicious link as a necessary step in a boring, everyday task, the attacker sidesteps the natural skepticism that usually accompanies an unexpected request. Consequently, the victim views the interaction not as a potential threat, but as a minor hurdle to be cleared so they can return to their actual work. This mundane nature of the attack is its greatest strength, allowing it to slip through the cracks of human intuition while the technical defenses are busy looking for more overt signs of intrusion.

Why Technical Defense Perimeters Often Fail the Human Test

We have spent billions of dollars on secure email gateways and advanced threat protection, yet the “official” email remains the most successful entry point for ransomware and data exfiltration. This failure is rooted in the inherent tension between usability and security, where the need for seamless communication often creates gaps that an attacker can drive a truck through. A secure email gateway is essentially a filter designed to catch known bad patterns, but the modern phisher is an expert at staying just beneath the threshold of detection. They use legitimate infrastructure, such as compromised Small Business Server accounts or reputable cloud hosting providers, to launch their campaigns. When a malicious email originates from a trusted IP address with valid cryptographic signatures, the technical gates swing wide open, leaving only the human at the keyboard to make the final call.

In addition to the subversion of trust, the rapid pace of digital transformation has outstripped the ability of the average user to verify the authenticity of their communications. As organizations move their operations to various third-party SaaS platforms, the number of “official” domains that a user interacts with on a daily basis has skyrocketed. It is no longer enough to look for a single corporate domain; employees are now expected to recognize notifications from payroll systems, project management tools, and cloud storage providers, all of which use different naming conventions and email templates. This fragmentation creates a smokescreen for the attacker, who can easily hide a malicious domain amidst the noise of a dozen legitimate ones. As a result, the mental fatigue of constantly verifying these sources leads to a state of “security nihilism,” where the user eventually stops checking altogether and simply clicks through to stay productive.

The anatomy of a modern credential harvest is a masterclass in deceptive minimalism, designed to exploit the very tools we use to stay organized and secure. Looking at the mechanics of the “Official” document lure, I see a devastatingly effective strategy that leverages the ubiquity of shared drives and collaborative platforms like SharePoint or DocuSign. The attacker doesn’t need to attach a piece of malware that might trigger an endpoint detection system; they simply provide a link to a legitimate-looking landing page that asks for a login to “view the protected file.” This transition from a trusted email environment to a browser-based authentication prompt is where the logic breaks down for most users. Because the initial email looked like a standard notification—complete with the correct legal disclaimers and corporate branding—the user’s brain has already cleared the transaction for takeoff. By the time they land on the spoofed login page, they aren’t looking for a scam; they are looking for their document, and they will hand over their credentials to get it.

The danger is compounded by the rise of “Living off the Land” techniques in the phishing world, where attackers use the victim’s own tools against them. When an adversary compromises a legitimate account within a supply chain, they can send “official” emails from a truly valid source to that person’s entire contact list. This lateral movement within a trusted ecosystem is the nightmare scenario for any security operations center because the traditional red flags simply do not exist. There is no mismatched “From” header to inspect, and the link often points to a real file hosted on a real corporate server that happens to contain a malicious redirect. In this context, the victim isn’t falling for a fake; they are being misled by a compromised reality. This level of deception makes it nearly impossible for the average employee to distinguish between a routine request and a high-stakes heist, especially when the message arrives in the middle of a high-pressure workday.

The Institutional Cost of Authority-Based Exploitation

When we break down the damage, we see that the financial toll of these “official” phishes is often eclipsed by the erosion of internal culture and institutional trust. Every time a successful campaign rips through a department, the aftermath involves a heavy-handed response from IT that usually includes more restrictive policies and mandatory, often condescending, training modules. This creates a friction-filled environment where employees start to view their own security team as an adversary or a hurdle to their productivity. Furthermore, the psychological impact on the individual who clicked the link can be profound, leading to a loss of confidence that hampers their work performance and makes them less likely to report future suspicious activity for fear of further embarrassment. Consequently, the organization becomes more brittle, hiding its vulnerabilities behind a facade of compliance while the actual risk remains unaddressed and festering in the shadows.

Looking at the broader economic landscape, the industrialization of phishing kits has lowered the barrier to entry for low-level criminals, allowing them to masquerade as sophisticated entities with the click of a button. These kits come pre-loaded with high-fidelity templates for every major bank, government agency, and tech giant, ensuring that even a novice operator can launch an “official” campaign that looks professional. This democratization of high-end social engineering means that the volume of attacks is constantly increasing, creating a background radiation of fraud that everyone must navigate daily. The sheer frequency of these encounters leads to a desensitization of the workforce, where the warning signs that used to trigger an alarm are now ignored as part of the digital noise. This saturation of the communication channel is exactly what the adversary wants, as it ensures that eventually, someone, somewhere, will be tired or distracted enough to swallow the hook.

The Illusion of Multi-Factor Authentication as a Total Shield

One of the most dangerous myths in the current security climate is the idea that Multi-Factor Authentication is an unhackable barrier that renders phishing obsolete. While MFA is a critical layer of defense, the “official” email has evolved to bypass it through sophisticated techniques like adversary-in-the-middle attacks and session hijacking. In a standard MFA-bypass scenario, the malicious email leads the victim to a proxy server that mimics the real login page in real-time. As the victim enters their username, password, and the subsequent one-time code from their phone, the attacker’s server passes those credentials to the actual service and steals the resulting session cookie. To the user, the experience is seamless and appears entirely “official,” but behind the scenes, the attacker now has a persistent foothold that bypasses the need for a password entirely. This proves that even our most robust technical solutions can be undermined by a well-executed social engineering play that targets the moment of authentication.

Moreover, the phenomenon of “MFA Fatigue” has become a potent weapon in the attacker’s arsenal, turning a security feature into a vulnerability. After sending a series of “official” emails claiming there is a problem with an account, the attacker will trigger a barrage of push notifications to the victim’s mobile device. The goal is to wear the person down until they hit “Approve” just to make the buzzing stop, assuming it’s a glitch in the “official” system. This exploit doesn’t require technical brilliance; it requires an understanding of human frustration and the tendency to take the path of least resistance. It demonstrates that as long as there is a human in the loop, the adversary will find a way to manipulate that person into opening the door, no matter how many locks we put on it. The “official” email is merely the first step in a psychological siege designed to break the victim’s resolve.

The strategy of the modern phisher has moved beyond the simple theft of credentials and into the territory of high-stakes narrative control. When we analyze the rise of Business Email Compromise, it becomes clear that the “Official” email is often just the opening act in a long-form con that can last for weeks. The attacker doesn’t just want a password; they want to insert themselves into the financial workflow of an organization. By mimicking the tone, the signature blocks, and the specific jargon of a vendor or a high-level partner, the adversary creates a secondary reality where a change in banking details or a diverted wire transfer seems like a routine administrative adjustment. The horror of this approach lies in its banality. There are no flashing red lights or “Access Denied” screens; there is only a quiet, professional-looking email that follows every established rule of corporate etiquette while it drains the company’s accounts.

Furthermore, the integration of generative AI into the attacker’s toolkit has eliminated the last remaining red flags that used to give these “Official” lures away. Gone are the days when a sharp-eyed employee could spot a phishing attempt by its poor grammar or awkward phrasing. Today’s lures are syntactically perfect, culturally nuanced, and tailored to the specific industry of the target. An attacker can now feed a few public interviews or LinkedIn posts from an executive into a model and generate an email that captures that individual’s unique “voice” with terrifying precision. This makes the “Official” email even more dangerous because it appeals to the victim’s sense of familiarity. Consequently, the gap between a legitimate internal communication and a fraudulent one has narrowed to the point of invisibility, leaving the human target to navigate a minefield where every step looks like solid ground.

The Weaponization of Compliance and Legal Fear

A significant portion of why people still fall for these lures is the strategic use of “regulatory theater” to induce a state of compliance-driven panic. Attackers have realized that the modern professional is terrified of three things: HR violations, tax audits, and data breaches. By framing a phishing lure as a “Mandatory Data Privacy Attestation” or an “Immediate Tax Compliance Notice,” the attacker leverages the weight of the law to bypass the user’s skepticism. These emails often include realistic references to actual legislation, such as GDPR or the CCPA, which adds a layer of superficial credibility that is hard to ignore. The victim isn’t just clicking a link; they are attempting to protect themselves or their company from a perceived legal threat. This flip of the script—making the scam look like a security measure—is a calculated move that turns a person’s best intentions into their greatest vulnerability.

In addition to legal threats, the “Official” lure often exploits the internal power dynamics of the modern workplace. In a high-pressure environment where “performance” is everything, the fear of failing to respond to a superior is a powerful motivator. I see this play out in “Urgent Request” scenarios where the email appears to come from a CEO or a Board Member who is “stuck in a meeting” and needs a quick favor. The victim is often so focused on the social reward of being helpful or the fear of appearing incompetent that they fail to perform even basic due diligence. The adversary knows that in a hierarchy, authority flows downward with a force that can flatten common sense. By the time the employee thinks to call the executive to verify the request, the gift cards have been drained or the sensitive spreadsheet has been uploaded to a command-and-control server.

Rebuilding the Perimeter on a Foundation of Radical Skepticism

If we are going to survive in this environment, we have to move past the idea that we can train the human element out of the equation. The “Official” email works because it is designed to work on humans, and humans are fundamentally social, cooperative, and prone to pressure. The solution isn’t another hour of boring slide decks; it’s a fundamental shift toward an “Assume Breach” mentality at the individual level. This means moving away from a culture of blind trust and toward one of verified communication, where no request involving data or money is ever handled through a single, unverified channel. We need to normalize the “Double-Check”—the idea that calling a coworker to verify an unusual email is not a sign of paranoia, but a standard operating procedure. This cultural shift is far harder to implement than a new firewall, but it is the only thing that can stand against the psychological precision of the modern phisher.

Moreover, organizations must stop relying on the visual “polish” of an email as a proxy for its legitimacy. We need to strip away the corporate logos and the fancy signatures in our minds and look at the raw intent of the message. If an email creates a sense of urgency, demands a bypass of standard procedures, or directs you to an external site to enter credentials, it should be treated as hostile until proven otherwise. The “Official” email is a mask, and the only way to beat it is to stop being impressed by the mask. We have to start valuing the friction in our systems—the extra steps, the out-of-band verifications, and the healthy skepticism—because that friction is the only thing that slows the attacker down long enough for us to see the hook beneath the bait. The rain is still falling on the digital asphalt, and the shadows are still reaching, but they only win when we let them lead us where they want us to go.

The persistence of the “Official” email as a top-tier threat vector is ultimately a testament to the fact that technical solutions are being applied to a non-technical problem. We are trying to use cryptographic signatures and automated filters to solve for the human desire to be helpful, the fear of authority, and the exhaustion of the modern workday. It is a mismatch of resources that the adversary exploits with predatory efficiency. When I look at the wreckage left behind by these campaigns, it is rarely the result of a single catastrophic failure; rather, it is a series of small, logical concessions made by a tired person just trying to get through their inbox. The attacker doesn’t need to be a digital ghost or a coding prodigy; they just need to be a better actor than you are a skeptic. They understand that if they can control the narrative, they can control the network, and they use the “Official” branding as the stage on which they perform their heist.

To break this cycle, we have to stop treating phishing as a “user error” and start treating it as an inevitable environmental hazard. This requires a defensive architecture that doesn’t just look for bad files, but looks for suspicious behaviors and anomalies in the flow of authority. If an executive who never handles wire transfers suddenly sends an “Official” urgent request for one, the system should be smart enough to flag the deviation, regardless of how clean the email headers look. We need to build systems that protect people from their own instinct to comply, creating hard stops and out-of-band verification requirements for any high-value transaction. The goal is to move the burden of defense off the shoulders of the individual and into the design of the workflow itself. Until we accept that the “Official” email is the most dangerous weapon in the digital world, we will continue to find ourselves staring at the empty accounts and compromised servers that are the hallmark of a successful hook, line, and sinker.

Call to Action

The time for treating phishing as a minor IT nuisance is over; it is a predatory psychological war, and you are currently the primary target. If you are a leader, you need to stop hiding behind automated filters and start building a culture where a healthy “no” is valued more than a rushed “yes.” Stop the assembly line long enough to verify the source, pick up the phone when an email feels even slightly off-kilter, and demand that your organization implements out-of-band verification for every high-stakes transaction. Don’t wait for the post-mortem report to realize your “official” communication was a ghost in the machine. Audit your workflows today, tighten your authentication protocols, and train your eyes to see the hook beneath the polish—because the next “urgent” email in your inbox isn’t looking to help you, it’s looking to gut you.

D. Bryan King

Sources

• FBI IC3 2023 Internet Crime Report
• Verizon 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR)
• CISA: Phishing Campaigns Targeting Government Entities
• Microsoft Digital Defense Report: The Evolution of Phishing
• Proofpoint 2024 State of the Phish Report
• ENISA Threat Landscape 2023
• NIST SP 800-63 Digital Identity Guidelines
• Trellix Cyber Readiness Report: Email Security Trends
• KnowBe4 2023 Phishing by Industry Benchmarking Report
• IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023
• Unit 42 Cloud Threat Report: Credential Harvesting
• CrowdStrike 2024 Global Threat Report
• Zscaler ThreatLabz 2023 Phishing Report
• Mandiant M-Trends 2024 Special Report
• Dark Reading: How Modern Phishing Bypasses MFA
• BleepingComputer: AiTM Phishing Kits Targeting M365
• SecurityWeek: BEC Attacks Leveraging Generative AI
• Wired: The Psychology Behind the Phish
• SANS Institute: Defeating Social Engineering in the Modern Office
• ZDNet: Anatomy of a BEC Attack
• Kroll Q3 2023 Cyber Threat Landscape
• McAfee Labs: The Science of Social Engineering
• F-Secure: How Criminals Exploit Human Emotions
• Kaspersky: Spam and Phishing in 2023 Analysis
• Sophos 2023 Active Adversary Report
• SC Magazine: Phishing as a Ransomware Vector
• Threatpost: Business Email Compromise – The Invisible Threat
• Infosecurity Magazine: AI-Generated Phishing Success Rates
• CSO Online: Psychological Principles Attackers Exploit
• Help Net Security: The Democratization of Phishing Kits
• Fortinet: The Evolution of Spear Phishing
• Check Point: Common Phishing Examples and Tactics
• Rapid7: Fundamentals of Phishing and Social Engineering
• Malwarebytes: Why People Click on Malicious Links
• Bitdefender Labs: Targeting Financial Institutions
• Trend Micro: The Art of the Lure
• ESET 2023 Phishing Trends Report
• Symantec: Phishing Tactics That Evade Detection
• Cloudflare: What is Phishing? Guide for Teams
• IT Governance: Top 5 Phishing Scams of 2023

Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author. The information provided is based on personal research, experience, and understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing. Readers should consult relevant experts or authorities for specific guidance related to their unique situations.

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Entstigmatisierung mit Games – Podcast E122

Mit Games Vorurteile abbauen, über Mental Health-Themen wie Depression oder Psychosen lernen und Betroffene besser verstehen – gelingt Entstigmatisierung durchs Spielen? Mit Dr. Marco Rüth diskutieren wir die Forschungslage mitsamt seiner eigenen, frisch publizierten Studie und überlegen, ob es ein perfektes Game zur Entstigmatisierung geben könnte.

Bild: Duru, Twisted Ramble Games

Zu Gast

• Dr. Marco Rüth | Linktree

Hosts

• Dr. Benjamin Strobel, Jessica Kathmann | Behind the Screens

TLDR

Transkript für Folge 122 herunterladen

00:00:00 Intro und Begrüßung von Marco
00:08:30 Was ist ein Stigma? Welche Auswirkungen kann Stigmatisierung haben?
00:16:48 Wie gelingt Entstigmatisierung
00:21:35 Marcos Studie: Mit dem Game Duru über Depression lernen
00:43:59 Ergebnisse von Marcos Studie
00:47:32 Welchen Einfluss hat es, ob man ein Spiel selbst spielt oder nur ein Video davon sieht?
01:07:15 Wie müsste ein Spiel gestaltet sein, damit es entstigmatisierend wirken kann?
01:24:37 Fazit und Abmoderation

Psychologie und Konzepte

• Nostalgie
• Stigma
• Entstigmatisierung
• Mental Health
• Depression
• Cognitive Bias
• Ingroup-Bias
• Theorie der sozialen Identität
• Halo-Effekt
• Stereotypen
• Kontakthypothese
• Systemische Therapie
• Psychoedukation
• Stimulus (Experiment)
• Think Aloud-Protokoll
• Cognitive Load
• Alptraum
• Prozedurale Rhetorik
• Pacing (Game Design)
• Verfügbarkeitsheuristik
• Priming

Literatur und weitere Links

• Learning about depression by watching gaming videos: a case study on the potential of digital games for psychoeducation and destigmatization (Rüth et al., 2025)
• Games, was können wir aus euren Erzählungen lernen? Über die Rolle von Erzählungen beim Lernen mit digitalen Spielen (Rüth, 2025)
• Conceptualizing and measuring mental illness stigma: The mental illness stigma framework and critical review of measures. (Fox et al., 2018)
• Entstigmatisierung psychischer Erkrankungen: Scoping Review zu Interventionen und Bestandsaufnahme von Best-Practice-Beispielen (Kerkemeyer et al., 2022)
• Entstigmatisierung psychischer Erkrankungen. Scoping Review zu Interventionen und Bestandsaufnahme von Best-Practice-Beispielen. Ergebnisbericht. (Kerkemeyer & Achtert, 2021)
• Flow and Immersion in Video Games: The Aftermath of a Conceptual Challenge (Michailidis et al., 2018)
• Reducing Mental Health Stigma Through Identification With Video Game Avatars With Mental Illness (Ferchaud et al., 2020)
• Stigmatisierung im Gesundheitssystem (Jiménez et al., 2023)
• Repräsentation in Games – Podcast E035 – Behind the Screens
• Depression in Duru – Podcast E022 – Behind the Screens

Games

• Duru
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

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Wenn euch die Folge gefallen hat, hinterlasst uns doch eine gute Bewertung bei Apple und Spotify oder abonniert uns bei Amazon Music, Audible oder Deezer. All das hilft uns dabei, auf den Plattformen sichtbarerer zu werden.

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Richard Mayer’s research on multimedia for learning actually proves text works better

Educational technology professionals cite Richard Mayer’s 2008 study more than any other research on multimedia instruction.

They are citing the wrong conclusion.

Mayer did not prove multimedia enhances learning.

He proved multimedia creates cognitive problems requiring ten different workarounds – and accidentally built the case for text-based instruction.

What Richard Mayer actually found

Through hundreds of controlled experiments, Richard Mayer identified ten principles for multimedia design.

The pattern is striking: most principles involve removing elements from presentations.

Five principles focus on reducing “extraneous processing” – cognitive waste that multimedia creates.

1. Remove irrelevant material.
2. Highlight essential information buried among distractions.
3. Eliminate simultaneous animation, narration, and text because learners perform better with only two elements.
4. Place corresponding words and pictures close together.
5. Present them simultaneously, not sequentially.

Three principles manage “essential processing” when content is complex.

1. Break presentations into learner-controlled segments.
2. Use spoken rather than printed text with graphics.
3. Provide pre-training before complex multimedia instruction.

Two principles foster deeper learning.

1. Combine words and pictures rather than words alone.
2. Use conversational rather than formal language.

The hidden message: multimedia instruction is so cognitively demanding that it requires ten specialized principles to avoid harming learning.

Richard Mayer’s split attention revelation

Mayer’s modality principle seems to endorse multimedia: learners perform better with graphics plus spoken text than graphics plus printed text.

Educational technologists celebrate this as proof that multimedia works.

They miss the real insight.

Graphics with printed text create split attention – learners cannot simultaneously look at pictures while reading words.

They must constantly switch between visual elements, wasting cognitive resources on coordination rather than learning.

Richard Mayer’s solution uses different channels: visual graphics with auditory narration.

But this still requires complex mental coordination between multiple input streams while maintaining focus on learning objectives.

Text-based instruction eliminates split attention entirely.

(There are deeply-rooted cultural and historical reasons for the distrust of text.)

Learners process information through one coherent channel that naturally supports sequential, analytical thinking.

The damage control principles in Richard Mayer’s principles

Step back from individual findings and Mayer’s principles reveal themselves as damage control.

The coherence principle removes distractions that multimedia introduces.

The redundancy principle eliminates conflicts between competing inputs.

The segmenting principle provides control that multimedia complexity demands.

The pre-training principle prepares learners for cognitive challenges that simpler instruction avoids.

Each principle represents additional design constraints requiring specialized expertise and extensive testing.

They exist because multimedia instruction is fundamentally problematic.

Text extends Richard Mayer’s logic

At The Geneva Learning Foundation, we work with 70,000 health practitioners using text-based peer learning.

Nigerian practitioners write about extreme heat forcing people to sleep outdoors, increasing malaria exposure.

Colleagues in Brazil, Chad, Ghana, and India read these accounts, analyze climate-health connections, and provide structured feedback through expert-designed rubrics.

No graphics.

No audio coordination.

No split attention problems.

Read our article: Against chocolate-covered broccoli: text-based alternatives to expensive multimedia content

Direct engagement with content that supports rather than complicates learning.

This approach achieves Richard Mayer’s goals through elimination rather than optimization.

Ultimate coherence by presenting only essential information.

Zero redundancy through single-channel processing.

Natural segmenting through text’s inherent reader control.

No pre-training needed because text presents information in logical, sequential structures.

The multimedia principle reconsidered

Mayer’s most famous finding – people learn better from words and pictures than words alone – deserves scrutiny.

This emerged from comparing passive multimedia consumption to passive text reading.

It equates learning with recall.

Neither condition included structured peer interaction, collaborative analysis, or iterative revision that characterize more complex learning.

When learners create knowledge through text-based peer learning, they achieve outcomes that passive consumption of any media cannot match.

The effect size for active text-based learning exceeds Mayer’s multimedia findings while avoiding cognitive coordination problems.

The economic evidence

Mayer’s ten principles exist because multimedia design is expensive and complex.

Each principle represents additional constraints demanding specialized expertise.

Typical multimedia modules are expensive.

Text-based peer learning costs a fraction of this amount while producing superior outcomes.

Resources should flow toward learning infrastructure such as expert rubrics and facilitated dialogue – elements that actually drive learning rather than manage cognitive problems.

The real choice

Educational technology leaders face a fundamental decision: invest in managing multimedia’s problems or adopt approaches that avoid those problems entirely.

Mayer’s research illuminates multimedia’s cognitive costs.

His ten principles represent sophisticated damage control, not learning enhancement.

They minimize harm rather than maximize potential.

Text-based instruction honors Mayer’s deeper insights while rejecting surface implications.

It achieves the cognitive efficiency his principles attempt to restore to multimedia environments.

References

1. Berrocal, Y., Regan, J., Fisher, J., Darr, A., Hammersmith, L., Aiyer, M., 2021. Implementing Rubric-Based Peer Review for Video Microlecture Design in Health Professions Education. Med.Sci.Educ. 31, 1761–1765. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-021-01437-1
2. Clark, R.C., Mayer, R.E. (Eds.), 2016. e‐Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning, 1st ed. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119239086
3. Feenberg, A. The written world: On the theory and practice of computer conferencing. Mindweave: Communication, computers, and distance education 22–39 (1989).
4. Mayer, R.E., 2008. Applying the science of learning: Evidence-based principles for the design of multimedia instruction. American Psychologist 63, 760–769. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.8.760
5. Mayer, R.E., 2005. Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, in: Mayer, R. (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. Cambridge University Press, pp. 31–48. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511816819.004
6. Mayer, R.E., Heiser, J., Lonn, S., 2001. Cognitive constraints on multimedia learning: When presenting more material results in less understanding. Journal of Educational Psychology 93, 187–198. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.93.1.187
7. Mayer, R.E., Moreno, R., 2003. Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning. Educational Psychologist 38, 43–52. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326985EP3801_6
8. Mayer, R.E., Moreno, R., 2002. Animation as an Aid to Multimedia Learning. Educational Psychology Review 14, 87–99. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013184611077
9. Plass, J.L., Chun, D.M., Mayer, R.E., Leutner, D., 2003. Cognitive load in reading a foreign language text with multimedia aids and the influence of verbal and spatial abilities. Computers in Human Behavior 19, 221–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0747-5632(02)00015-8
10. Sweller, J., 2005. Implications of Cognitive Load Theory for Multimedia Learning, in: Mayer, R. (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. Cambridge University Press, pp. 19–30. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511816819.003

Image: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2025

Cognitive Load is what matters

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https://github.com/zakirullin/cognitive-load

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The talk 'Beyond the Code: Identifying and Reducing Complexity in Software Design' is now live!💪 🚀

🎥 Watch it here: https://appdevcon.nl/session/beyond-the-code-identifying-and-reducing-complexity-in-software-design/

#adc25 #bestpractice #architecture #cognitiveload #complexity #appdevcon

🎤 Dmitrii Ivanov spoke at Appdevcon!

The talk 'Beyond the Code: Identifying and Reducing Complexity in Software Design' is now live!💪 🚀

🎥 Watch it here: https://appdevcon.nl/session/beyond-the-code-identifying-and-reducing-complexity-in-software-design/

#adc25 #bestpractice #architecture #cognitiveload #complexity #appdevcon

What happens to your brain when you watch videos online at faster speeds than normal
#FastPlayback #DigitalLearning #CognitiveLoad #MemoryRecall #BrainHealth #OnlineLearning #VideoSpeed #EdTech #AttentionSpan #LearningScience #Neuroscience #MentalFatigue
https://the-14.com/what-happens-to-your-brain-when-you-watch-videos-online-at-faster-speeds-than-normal/

"The real innovation, the sustainable progress, comes from maintaining deep understanding while embracing AI's capabilities."

#softwareengineering #cognitiveload #vibecoding

https://nmn.gl/blog/dangers-vibe-coding

The #platform is first and foremost a curated experience for its users, usually engineers in internal teams. We must design the platform with the user in mind, with a strong focus on the user experience and developer experience. A curated experience means that we provide value by focusing on reducing the #cognitiveload for users by making the platform easy to use.

Often this means simplifying the use of external software and services, through useful internal abstractions and workflows.

A few times over the last several decades I’ve unsubscribed from every social media account, RSS feed, newsletter, YouTube channel, etc. and started with a clean slate. My goal was, as I wrote about in 2012 on this blog, to break out of my echo chamber and hopefully expand my thinking.

Slowly resubscribing to my interests is a lot of work. But it has been worth it and I know I have been […]

https://cdevroe.com/2025/03/19/spring-is-for-unsubscribing/