Abstract

Short videos are becoming more popular in mobile Internet age. Not only people's media consumption patterns have been changed by the rise of this new media form, but also it has posed challenges to public psychological well-being. For many netizens, their entertainment needs have been met by watching short videos. However, many side effects, such as addiction and anxiety, reduce users' subjective well-being instead of satisfying the entertainment motivation after watching short videos. Therefore, it has become a significant research problem in short videos to figure out how to get audiences to watch short videos on a regular basis while avoiding side effects like anxiety and addiction and improving audiences' subjective well-being. Based on the theory of Internet addiction, this study analyzed short video users using the 2×2×2 research method and explored the relationship between the length of use, addiction, anxiety, and subjective well-being of short video users. The results showed that short video users with different usage lengths showed significant differences in addiction, anxiety, subjective well-being, and online social support; innovative different short video users showed significant differences in addiction and anxiety, as well as a triadic relational interaction of short video users' anxiety under the interaction with self-efficacy and online social support. This study contributes to the advancement of internet addiction theory research and application, assisting short video users in avoiding addiction and anxiety, and improving the subjective well-being of short video users, thereby promoting the growth of the short video industry.