Overview

• Steve Chen told a Stanford Business School audience that his children can’t sustain attention beyond 15 minutes on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts
• He suggested that short-form apps build in daily access caps calibrated by age to protect young users from addictive design elements
• Chen’s call amplifies warnings from Sam Altman and Jonathan Haidt about dopamine-driven video feeds harming brain development and increasing youth anxiety
• Despite intensifying pressure, no major platforms have announced formal viewing caps even as YouTube Shorts pull in $9.8 billion in Q2 ad revenue on track for over $40 billion annually
• Some parents are steering children toward long-form videos and avoiding vibrant, fast-paced clips to reduce attention-span risks