Exercise-based interventions for problematic short-video use: a narrative review of current evidence and potential psychological pathways.

Problematic short-video use has become an emerging digital health concern among adolescents and college students. In this review, problematic short-video use is not treated as an independent clinical disorder with formal diagnostic status. Instead, it is conceptualized as an addiction-like pattern of digital-media use characterized by impaired control, psychological dependence, and real-world functional impairment. Using a theory-driven narrative review approach, this article organizes short-video-specific and transferable evidence around four overlapping pathways that may link exercise with problematic short-video use: reward substitution, emotional restoration, control restoration, and real-world reconnection. These pathways are theoretical propositions rather than established mechanisms, and support for them is uneven. Control restoration has the most direct, although still limited, support because it includes one small controlled exercise study; emotional restoration is supported mainly by short-video-specific association studies; and reward substitution and real-world reconnection rely more heavily on indirect or transferable evidence. The overall efficacy of exercise remains uncertain, and practical implications are preliminary because exercise type and dose, target populations, adherence, and implementation conditions have not been established. By distinguishing direct, reverse-direction, contextual, and transferable evidence, this review provides a structured synthesis of the field and identifies priority outcomes and design considerations for future controlled studies.