AI Search Summary
This is the cross-platform follow-up to the creator’s viral “marshmallow test” attention challenge, comparing how TikTok and Instagram audiences responded. It breaks the comments into four behavior categories and looks at differences between the two platforms (and the age groups behind them).
- Main question: Who has longer attention spans — TikTokers or Instagrammers (and Gen Z vs Gen Y)?
- Short answer / core takeaway: The challenge produced far more engagement on TikTok (nearly a million comments) than Instagram (~100k views), and the two audiences differed: both had about the same share who ignored instructions, but TikTokers were notably more likely to give a “snarky” answer, and the platforms’ age distributions differed sharply (TikTok skewed Gen Z, Instagram was more split).
- Evidence type: creator-run social-media comment dataset comparison, not a controlled psychology study.
- Search topics: TikTok vs Instagram attention span, marshmallow test followup, Gen Z vs Gen Y attention, viral comment analysis, 37 vs 42 challenge, cross-platform engagement.
Common Search Questions
What was the marshmallow test being compared?
It refers to the creator’s earlier challenge: stare at a silent, still screen for 45 seconds, then comment something random including the number 42 — while a hidden mid-video instruction said to use 37 instead, catching people who skipped to the end.
How did TikTok and Instagram engagement compare?
The challenge resonated far more on TikTok: millions watched and almost a million commented, while only about 100,000 watched on Instagram (though that still produced thousands of comments to analyze).
How did the two audiences differ?
Both platforms had roughly 5% of viewers who didn’t follow any instructions. TikTokers were about 28% more likely to give the “snarky” answer (including both numbers). The age distributions also differed: the TikTok audience was solidly Gen Z, while the Instagram audience was more evenly split.
Key Takeaways
- This is a cross-platform comparison of the same viral attention test, not a formal study.
- Comments were sorted into four groups: didn’t follow instructions, snarky, passed (sat through all 45 seconds), and cheated (skipped to the end and used the decoy answer).
- About 5% on both platforms followed no instructions.
- TikTokers were ~28% more likely than Instagrammers to give the snarky answer.
- The TikTok audience skewed Gen Z; the Instagram audience was more split between generations.
- A follow-up video covers the weirdest comments, with the full analysis on YouTube.
Transcript
The question
Who do you think has longer attention spans? TikTokers or Instagrammers? Gen Y or Gen Z? I have data that answers that question. But first, pause and put your answer in the comments, because we need more data.
The two datasets
Millions of TikTokers took my TikTok marshmallow test, and almost a million commented. Clearly it didn’t speak to the Instagram crowd quite as well, because only 100,000 watched it there. But that still gave us thousands of comments to work with. I explained how the test worked in my last video, so let’s just dive right into the results. (Last chance to go take the test.)
The four categories
All right, my science nerds, let’s examine the evidence. There are four categories of responses: those who didn’t follow any instructions; those who mostly did but gave a snarky answer; those who sat through all 45 seconds and therefore gave the correct answer, passing the test; and those who cheated, skipped to the end, and gave the red-herring answer, failing the test.
The comparison
First up, both platforms had roughly 5% of viewers just not following instructions. Next, TikTokers were 28% more likely to give the snarky answer. And then the middle that we’ve all been waiting for — the share who “cheated” by skipping to the end — for everyone who says TikTokers are destroying this generation’s attention span.
The age angle
For reference, here are the relative age distributions of my audience across both platforms for this video. The TikTokers were solidly Gen Z, and the Instagram crowd was pretty split.
What’s next
The next video will explore some of the weirdest comments I got — y’all are pretty messed up — and the full analysis video will be up on YouTube next week.
Additional Notes
Caption context
Replying to @abus_mom2 — “Gen Y vs Gen Z: who cheats more?”
Evidence nuance
This is a large social-media comment comparison, not a controlled experiment, and should not be treated as a representative measure of any generation’s or platform’s attention span.
References
- No DOI, PMID, formal study title, or external source link was listed in the source data for this analysis.