Instagram Reels are a form of social media that are “short videos you can easily create and enjoy watching on Instagram.” Reels are a recent success starting in August of 2020 and getting bigger and bigger especially since this past year. Reels are basically Instagram’s very own version of Tiktok in order to stay relevant.
Other social media companies have tried to do the same as TikTok. For example, YouTube has YouTube shorts, and Snapchat has Snapchat Spotlight. However, both haven’t reached the level of TikTok or even come close.
Reels are the only worthy comparison to TikTok because of its popularity increasing and level of entertainment. Over 726.8 million people use Reels which is about 55.1% of Instagram’s total advertising audience and around 11.6% of the global adult population.
But what exactly is a Reel? A Reel could be as simple as a ten second video of a sports game, or a video of your dog, or literally any type of video within 90 seconds.
So why is this bad for you? Well, first is that it drastically reduces your attention span and memory because scrolling through short videos for long periods of time is effecting your brain in a negative way. Your brain struggles to attain attention to activities that take longer spans of time because the brain is so used to trying to produce thoughts quickly from reels. This leads to the loss of important analytical skills along with poor mental health.
A study from The National Library of Medicine (NLM) indicated that while social media can boost moods via connection to others, the apps were still linked to increased mental health issues and symptoms of attention deficit order (ADD).
The majority of Reel’s audience tends to be people between the ages of 25 and 34 years old; however reels have been trending amongst teens as of this past year, making the target audience of Reels very wide spread. A statistic from Demandstage.com says that more than 2 billion people per month interact with Instagram Reels as of 2024.
As you can see people are extremely active on Instagram reels.
So, how are Reels able to attract audiences from all ages? Again, you are able to post whatever you would like as a Reel and any person can post a Reel. This is huge to having a target audience of all ages because you can make Reels aimed towards specific ages of people. For example, if a Reel is posted about car insurance, that Reel is likely to be seen by older ages of people rather than younger. Or, if a Reel talking about the best video games is posted, it is likely to be seen by younger audiences.
Although Reels may seem like harmless fun just like other social media entertainment may seem, they end up affecting you in a negative way. The best solution is to moderate your time on Reels or just stay away from them completely.
