Content Depth Matters in Short-Video Recommendation: Rethinking the Attention Economy

Excerpt

arXiv:2608.13990v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Driven by the attention economy, short-video Recommender Systems (RSs) are primarily optimized to maximize user engagement by promoting videos that capture attention within seconds. These systems inherently favor shallow-content videos that are effective at attracting immediate attention. However, growing evidence suggests that prolonged exposure to such content may negatively affect users' cognitive engagement and mental well-being, raising concer