Platforms keep giving viewers faster ways to consume content: TikTok locked 2x speed in 2023, Instagram Reels brought 2x in 2025, and YouTube Shorts added a 2x speed feature just this week—fueling a debate over attention spans and the economics of keeping user
For years, the pull of short-form video has been measured in scroll speed. This week, that math got easier.
YouTube Shorts has finally added a 2x speed feature. joining TikTok and Instagram Reels in a race to let viewers get through more clips without technically adding more time. The change lands in the middle of an attention economy where people don’t just watch—many people reshape the pace of what they watch. sometimes to the point where normal speed feels like a punishment.
TikTok was the first of the major platforms to get there. The app added a 2x-speed feature in 2023. but the experience had a drawback: viewers recently got a “lock” option that removes the need to keep a finger pressed on the screen. The method works by pressing the screen to start 2x speed, then dragging a finger down to lock it.
Instagram Reels later followed, adding 2x speed in 2025.
And for a certain kind of heavy user, these buttons aren’t a novelty—they’re a practical solution. The piece’s author describes themselves as a “screentime maximalist” who spends time consuming short-form vertical video on a phone. and frames speed controls as the supply-side fix to a simple constraint: there are only so many hours in a day. They say they even shave time from sleeping—watching TikToks in bed—to free up more minutes for watching.
That same logic extends beyond video. They speed up podcasts and non-fiction audiobooks to at least 1.25x. and more recently bump fiction audiobooks to at least 1.4x. “Listening at actual speed is torture. ” they write. capturing a shift from choice to default: the expectation that audio and video should come tailored to how fast a viewer wants to move.
The author also describes trying to speed through entertainment that was never designed to be consumed quickly. At first. they thought speeding up a Netflix show would be an “abomination. ” but they later say it’s the only workable way to consume reality TV like “Love Is Blind.” They add that. over the last few weeks. they grew frustrated by “Love Island” on the Peacock app—citing six episodes per week—while also noting that Chrome extensions apparently exist to make it easier to speed through.
The emotional argument is clear: if people need faster playback to get through a 90-second video. something about the way audiences process information has changed. The author points to the “firehose of content” as the cause. arguing that short-form video has trained viewers to crave more short-form video.
They bring a blunt metaphor to the issue: the endless appetite is likened to a famous Florida Everglades python whose stomach exploded while trying to eat an alligator. and the alligator becomes the “endless scroll” they say they can never get enough of. They also use a reference to toxoplasmosis—described as the disease from handling cat poop that makes rats obsessed with cats—to argue that short-form feeds can override normal pace and preference.
Even so, there’s no call for self-control. The author says there’s likely a way to “wean yourself off” and reset attention—citing options like logging off. touching grass. and doing a dopamine reset—but they aren’t interested. Their stance is that they’ve made their choices and will keep speeding through videos until all platforms add even faster options. writing that they’ll keep going “until all the platforms have to add 3x speeds.”.
The newsroom takeaway is less about personal habits and more about what the feature trail suggests. When TikTok added 2x-speed in 2023 and later introduced the ability to lock it. and when Instagram Reels added 2x speed in 2025. and when YouTube Shorts now rolls out its own 2x option. the direction is consistent: platforms are responding to demand for more content per minute. This isn’t just a setting. It’s a product decision shaped by how viewers already behave—fast. hungry. and unwilling to wait for pace to catch up.
YouTube Shorts TikTok Instagram Reels 2x speed video playback speed attention economy short-form video vertical video podcasts audiobooks Love Island Love Is Blind Peacock
People really can’t just watch at normal speed anymore, huh?
Seems like they’re just trying to keep you scrolling longer without saying it. Like “2x” but magically you still spend the same amount of time. Next thing you know, they’ll lock it to 5x and call it “productivity.”
Wait so YouTube Shorts now does 2x speed… but doesn’t that make your videos blurry or something? Also I saw somewhere TikTok already had it, so I don’t get why it’s news. Maybe it’s only for the people who have premium or whatever.
Attention span is getting worse because of this, yes, but honestly I think it’s more like algorithms are addicted. Like the app is basically forcing you to go faster to “keep up,” and then you’re confused when your brain doesn’t process it. They even said the author steals time from sleep which is wild, but people do what they do. I’m not saying speed is bad, but if you can’t watch normal speed then yeah maybe don’t watch in the first place.