As Salam Alakum Dear Parents,
Welcome back to yet another blog from our series “From Fitnah to Fitrah-Islamic Parenting in the AI World”. Lets start Bismilliah..
Reflective Activity: Take a moment and ask yourself honestly: – How much of your screen time goes to watching short videos? – Can you recall even one beneficial thing you learned from watching them today? – What did your child watch yesterday before bed — was it a short? What was in it? Now pause.
Breathe. Reflect again.
This isn’t about guilt. This is about awareness. Because what we consume, even in digital form, eventually shapes our hearts and homes.
Now take a deeper breath.
Reflect not just on what you or your child are watching, but how you’re watching. The behavior. The routine. The endless scroll.
Ask yourself: Is this content bringing us closer to Allah? Or pulling us slowly away, one swipe at a time?
What Are “Shorts”?
“Shorts” refer to ultra-short video clips, often lasting between 15 seconds and 1 minute. They are designed to entertain, shock, inspire, or distract—very quickly.
Platforms like: –
- YouTube Shorts
- Instagram Reels
- TikTok
- Facebook Watch
- Snapchat Spotlight
…are engineered to autoplay and scroll endlessly. One ends, another begins. Before you know it, 30 minutes—or an hour—has passed. But what exactly did you watch? Short-form content is now the most consumed digital media in the world. It’s easily accessible, infinitely scrollable, and instantly gratifying. And therein lies its greatest danger.
The Addictive Design: Why You Keep Watching. These platforms employ neuro-marketing strategies that trigger dopamine, the brain’s pleasure hormone, each time you encounter something surprising or new. It’s not by accident that your child is hooked, and so are you.
Every time a new video appears, your brain gets a dopamine spike, creating a small high, a moment of interest or amusement.
This is not just innocent entertainment. It is behavioural conditioning.
It’s an endless loop of: –
Swipe → Dopamine → Repeat
Each swipe reinforces:
- Impulsiveness over mindfulness
- Distraction over discipline
- Consumption over contemplation
The mind becomes wired to crave novelty, and the child (and parent) becomes a slave to the scroll.
Your brain becomes addicted to the anticipation of “what’s next,” not even the content itself. This loop is habit-forming—for both adults and children. It becomes a form of digital gluttony.
Shaytan’s Deception: The Hidden Fitnah.
This is where the deception of Shaytan (Satan) becomes dangerously subtle. He doesn’t need you to click haram outright. He just needs you to start scrolling. Consider this: “Indeed, Shaytan flows through the human being like the flow of blood.” — Sahih al-Bukhari. Just as a trickle of water wears away stone, bite-sized sins, when left unchecked, begin to dull our spiritual awareness—our fitrah.
Let us not forget the eternal strategy of Shaytan:
“Then I will come to them from before them and from behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them grateful.” — (Surah Al-A’raf 7:17)
He doesn’t need to attack with major sins. He starts with distractions. Time-wasters. Slowly but surely, hearts are hardened and fitrah is dimmed.
Just as Shaytan doesn’t push the believer into zina instantly—he starts with a gaze, then a scroll, then a like, then a follow—shorts are one of the most subtle tools in his arsenal.
Bites vs. Meals: An Analogy from the Dining Table.
Imagine you’re at a buffet. You pick at fries here, a piece of cake there, a slice of pizza somewhere else. An hour later, you’re uncomfortably full, but you can’t even remember what you ate. Now compare that to sitting down for a nourishing, balanced meal. You know what you ate, how much, and you feel nourished.
This is the difference between:
- Watching Shorts — random, impulsive, empty consumption.
- Watching Full Content — thoughtful, intentional learning or entertainment.
One feeds the nafs.
The other can feed the ruh (soul).
A Ramadan Anecdote: A Moment of Advice
Last Ramadan, I was sitting quietly in the women’s prayer area for the friday prayer to start. A young woman next to me had her phone out, scrolling quickly through Instagram reels. Every few seconds, an image of a semi-naked influencer, a dancing man, or a fashion tip with music popped up. I leaned toward her gently and whispered, “My sister, protect this sacred time. Shaytan is chained in Ramadan. Don’t undo your fasting with what you see.” She smiled weakly, nodded, and put the phone away. I didn’t blame her. I recognised the addiction. But we all need reminders. We all need someone to nudge us back to fitrah.
Information Overload: The Invisible Burden.
What happens when you or your child consumes hundreds of shorts a day? Psychologically, it’s called cognitive overload. The brain, especially in children, is not designed to process so much disjointed information at once. The brain cannot distinguish between valuable information and junk when it’s received in rapid, unfiltered bursts.
For children:
- Short attention span
- Hyperactivity
- Poor sleep quality
- Emotional numbness
For parents:
- Mental fatigue
- Low motivation
- Spiritual disconnect
- Irritability or guilt
Think of it this way:
Holding a water bottle for 2 minutes? No problem.
Hold it for 8 hours without putting it down? Your arm aches. Your body screams to let go.
This is what constant digital content does to the mind and soul. It’s not the “weight” of the information—it’s the duration and volume that exhausts us.
What Will You Do with This Overload?
Parents, what will you or your children do with this endless input?
- Try to follow the trend, only to feel more lost?
- Share it with others, unknowingly spreading distraction?
- Keep watching until the mind feels heavy, yet oddly empty?
How long will we carry this bottle before we say, “Enough”?
Will we recognize that the soul was created for peace, not pixels?
– Will you let your children sink deeper into digital fog? – Or will you begin *unlearning* this behavior and teaching moderation? Yes, it might feel difficult. But the soul longs for clarity, not chaos. Allah created us to live by *fitrah*—a clean, simple, conscious state of being.
Practical Strategies: Breaking Free from the Short-form Trap
Here are some conscious, faith-driven strategies for parents to protect themselves and their children:
- Digital Fasting. Choose a daily or weekly time when no screens are allowed. Use it for Qur’an recitation, board games, or storytelling.
- Model the Behavior. Your child will mirror you. If they see you scrolling through shorts after salah, they’ll do the same. Be the change.
- Disable Autoplay & Remove Recommendations. Go into app settings. Remove the ‘auto-scroll’ feature. Use browser extensions or filters to avoid addictive loops.
- Watch with Purpose. Choose 1 or 2 longer videos per week that are educational or Islamic. Sit together. Reflect together.
- Educate, Don’t Just Restrict. Teach your children what’s happening to their brains and hearts. Help them understand why this is harmful, not just that it is “haram”.
- Use Islamic Apps Instead. Replace Instagram reels with Qur’an apps, Islamic podcasts, or creative story apps rooted in adab and deen.
- Teach “Time Barakah” Show your children how time gets stolen. Use timers. Reflect with them: “We watched 20 videos, but what do we remember?”
- Be the Example. Your children won’t stop if they see you scrolling. Start with yourself. Leave the phone during meals, before bed, and in the masjid.
A Personal Du’a for You and Your Children.
Ya Allah, Protect our eyes from what displeases You. Guard our hearts from the distractions of this dunya. Make us and our children from the people of deep reflection, strong willpower, and pure fitrah. Help us to raise a generation who love Your deen more than the screen. Ameen.
Stay firm, dear parents. From fitnah to fitrah is a long road—but not an impossible one. Let’s walk it together, one conscious scroll at a time.
Wrriten By
Sayyida Al Salaam
Certified Australian (Muslimah) Counselor
Qalaq Al Nafsi
www.qalaqalnafsi.com
help@qalaqalnafsi.com
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