1.  Introduction

By June 2025, the number of Internet users in China has reached 1.123 billion, and the Internet penetration rate has reached 79.7%. More and more groups share the achievements of digital development. The short video has occupied the core traffic portal position in the current network ecology, and the beauty short video occupies an important position in the current short video network. It is a key component of the short video network content ecology, and also an important driving force for the development of the beauty industry. It has a strong visual impact and has risen rapidly on the Internet, meeting the needs of high school students to quickly access information and entertainment, and is constantly changing the way young people live, learn, play, and even think [1].

With the progress of the times, the widespread popularity of the Internet and the improvement of consumption level, people's aesthetic concepts are gradually awakening. With the improvement of people's living standards, more and more people are not only focusing on material aspects, but also pursuing spiritual satisfaction and beauty [1]. Beauty short videos are in a rapid development stage, and the number of research articles on beauty short videos is increasing.

A person's appearance is the first visual attraction and the most eye-catching. The inability to objectively evaluate self-image and the emergence of self-image illusions a common phenomena during adolescence [2]. High school students' attention to beauty short videos is essentially the result of their own needs and the external environment working together. Beauty, as a direct way to change their external image, can help them try different styles (such as daily light makeup, specific occasion styling), explore personal aesthetic preferences, and thereby enhance their sense of self-identity. There are also papers exploring the research on adolescent beauty and plastic surgery.

However, there has been no discussion or research on the impact of short beauty videos on the behavior of high school students. Based on this, this article explores the impact of beauty short videos on high school students' aesthetic cognition and emotional attitudes, as well as their behavior.

2.  High school students' use of beauty short video media and its impact

2.1.  Current situation trend

Short video applications have sprouted since 2012. After more than 10 years of development, there are more and more short video applications. In addition to short video applications such as Tiktok and Kwai, social media and shopping platforms also attract users through built-in short video functions. Beauty short video media can be used to watch, share, and create short videos lasting from a few seconds to a few minutes, and can participate in online interactive behaviors such as liking, commenting, and bookmarking. Teenagers have become viewers, interactors, imitators, and creators of a large number of beauty online short videos. By 2025, the Internet penetration rate of minors across the country has reached 97.3%, the number of Internet users among minors has exceeded 196 million,This new mode of communication is in line with the habits of the youth group, but this group is currently in a period of value formation, with incomplete thinking, recognition, and judgment abilities. They also have a strong ability to imitate new things, making them highly susceptible to the influence of short videos, and the Internet penetration rate of senior high school students has nearly reached saturation, of which more than 90% of senior high school students use makeup short videos [3]. With the popularity of beauty short videos, which can bring joy and relieve learning pressure to high school students, and teach beauty skills, beauty short video media has become a popular choice for young people nowadays. The number of high school students watching beauty short videos is huge and showing an upward trend.

2.2.  The impact of short videos

Short video applications enable users to pay attention to others and communicate with them to meet their emotional needs, making more and more people unable to do without them, and even addicted [4]. Short video addiction is a special type of internet addiction that has become a major problem for young people today [5]. Research has shown that internet addiction is an important influencing factor on the mental health of adolescents, and beauty short videos can also lead to addiction among high school students, resulting in continuous repeated use of beauty short video applications and falling into a chronic or periodic obsession state, generating a strong and sustained sense of need and dependence. Short videos in the United States attract the attention of teenagers due to their interesting, rich content and strong visual impact, which can lead to a strong dependence on them among high school students and a decrease in their control. They can become addicted to short videos and unable to extricate themselves [6]. In severe cases, it may lead to psychological, social, learning, or work difficulties.

3.  The impact of short beauty videos on high school students

3.1.  Impact on high school students' behavior and emotions

Short videos on the internet can cause teenagers to lose their sense of time and affect their correct perception of time. The reason is that beauty short video applications use big data analysis to provide personalized and accurate recommendations to users, catering to their interests and immersing individuals in it without feeling the passage of time. The more teenagers use short videos, the worse their ability to meet academic delays often becomes [7]. The more time high school students spend on beauty short videos every day, the more time they spend on makeup accordingly. Due to weak self-discipline, they tend to overlook the passage of time and immerse themselves in these activities, which has become a phenomenon of addiction in the eyes of the public. The time invested in sleep and after-school learning is becoming shorter and shorter, and the use of beauty short videos may, to some extent, affect the healthy sleep and academic engagement of teenagers. The academic difficulties faced by "heavy users" of beauty short videos, such as reduced exam scores, decreased educational aspirations, and unsatisfactory learning outcomes, indicate a significant correlation between academic performance and short video dependence, and the weaker the grades, the greater the dependence on short videos. Being distracted by beauty often leads to a lack of interest in school learning activities, including difficulty concentrating in class, feeling bored at school, and an increased likelihood of skipping school. They still don't understand that appearance is not absolutely related to life success. Inner cultivation, spiritual realm, and willpower are more important than appearance [2].

3.2.  Impact on aesthetic cognition of high school students

Aesthetic cognition refers to the process in which individuals perceive, understand, judge, and evaluate the aesthetic attributes of things (such as form, color, rhythm, and imagery) through sensory (such as visual and auditory) and psychological activities. It is the core psychological foundation of aesthetic activities.

Beauty short videos satisfy the sensory stimulation needs of high school students with their differentiation and entertainment, making them highly satisfied. It presents content in different styles, skin tones, and makeup, helping high school students to experience non-standardized beauty, breaking the traditional single aesthetic framework, and becoming more attractive. In beauty short videos, one can enhance their understanding of beauty (such as aesthetic standards, makeup styles, etc.), gain practical beauty knowledge (such as product ingredients, makeup techniques, etc.), and have a clearer understanding of their own appearance advantages and disadvantages. Through beauty short videos, one can quickly grasp the current popular beauty trends, and the content in beauty short videos can help distinguish suitable beauty products. Basic beauty skills can be learned through short videos as a way of self-expression, explore suitable styles in practice, and enhance their independent judgment of "beauty". The beauty enhancement methods in short videos are reasonable for high school students. Some content emphasizes that beauty is meant to please oneself, guiding teenagers to combine aesthetics with self-identity and confidence, rather than simply catering to others.

However, due to the fact that high school students are in a period of value formation and have not established rational aesthetic standards, their thinking, recognition, and judgment abilities are not perfect, and their ability to imitate new things is extremely strong, they are highly susceptible to the influence of short videos featuring beautiful clothing, which can affect the formation of high school students' aesthetic values.

They overestimate or underestimate their actual image and cannot view their self-image correctly. However, short beauty videos can lead to a sense of monotony and aesthetic anxiety. The abundance of filters and perfect makeup content after beauty treatments can easily make teenagers equate standards such as "white, thin, and youthful appearance" with beauty, ignoring individual differences and resulting in appearance anxiety and even questioning their own appearance. Excessive reliance on filters and special effects to present false beauty may confuse virtual aesthetics with real aesthetics, reducing the acceptance of real appearance among teenagers. They face a huge psychological gap when faced with a perfect ideal image, and some beauty short videos emphasize the utilitarian cognition of appearance in their content, directly linking beauty and increasing popularity to gain attention. The values conveyed by beauty short videos undoubtedly exaggerate the importance of appearance, creating a simulated environment of "appearance first" [8]. Teenagers may overly focus on appearance and overlook the importance of intrinsic qualities such as knowledge and personality, leading to a one-sided perception that beauty is paramount.

In addition, changes in aesthetic cognition can lead to an increase in high school students' self-shaping behavior. Aesthetic and emotional cognition will drive high school students to adjust their self-image through specific actions to match their inner aesthetic standards and emotional needs. The appearance management behavior is strengthened. Consumption choices are no longer only based on "practicality", but are more dominated by aesthetic preferences and emotional satisfaction. They will give priority to learning to pay attention to the brand and reputation of products on beauty videos, pay more attention to their own appearance in social occasions, pay more attention to their daily makeup, and with the positive emotion that "makeup can improve self-confidence", they may develop daily makeup habits, and even invest time to learn advanced skills (such as concealer, grooming). When the aesthetic tends towards a certain style (such as minimalism, Y2K style) and emotionally feels that "this style can represent oneself", one will actively conform to the style in dressing, hairstyle, and accessory selection, and convey self-awareness through external image. Try the makeup techniques, hairstyles, and different styles of clothing in the video, and change your skincare or makeup habits based on the video recommendations. If one's aesthetic perception is that "thinness equals beauty", there may be behaviors that harm health, such as excessive dieting and blind medical aesthetics, to forcefully cater to one's inner aesthetic expectations.

3.3.  Impact on emotional attitudes of high school students

Emotional attitude refers to an individual's stable and emotionally inclined evaluation and behavioral readiness towards specific objects (such as people, things, concepts, events).

Beauty short videos can enhance high school students' sense of identity and confidence. By learning beauty techniques to improve appearance flaws (such as acne and uneven skin tone), or by showcasing personality through makeup (such as cool and sweet style), when gaining recognition from others or self satisfaction, it can increase self acceptance and boost confidence. Under the strong pressure of high school learning tasks, providing emotional release and decompression channels, some teenagers regard makeup as an immersive hobby. In the process of matching makeup and shooting short videos, they can temporarily escape academic pressure or life troubles, gain a sense of focus and achievement, and play an emotional regulation role. The frequency of discussing beauty topics with classmates has increased, promoting social connections and a sense of belonging. High school students can find like-minded peers and gain emotional resonance and a sense of belonging by sharing beauty content and participating in related topic discussions.

However, at the same time, a large amount of "perfect makeup under filter beauty" and "high-value bloggers" content in short videos can easily make teenagers examine themselves with high standards. If there is a gap between their actual appearance and their ideal state, it can trigger appearance anxiety and self doubt, which may lead to self doubt, anxiety, and even negative emotions of not daring to go out without makeup. Cultivating a mentality of comparison, some high school students may compare bloggers' makeup brands and techniques, or care about the number of likes and comments on their own works, which may lead to negative emotions such as jealousy and loss, affecting their mental balance. Emotional dependence and cognitive bias caused by human factors, excessive addiction to beauty short videos, and neglect of the importance of intrinsic qualities; May gradually rely on external recognition and lose independent judgment of one's own emotions.

In addition, high school students are experiencing an increase in beauty and related expenses. If one pursues the aesthetic of "short video same makeup look" and emotionally expects the pleasure of "becoming beautiful" through "the same product", they will actively purchase makeup and beauty tools recommended by bloggers (such as makeup brushes and makeup eggs), and even purchase high-end products beyond their purchasing power for the pursuit of "delicacy". When the budget is tight, one may save or reduce other expenses by purchasing beauty products recommended by videos. If there is an emotional comparison mentality of "I want to have what others have", or if driven by the atmosphere of short videos such as "limited time discounts" and "must buy lists", impulse consumption is likely to occur; If 'using a certain brand of product' is linked to 'enhancing identity', it may also satisfy consumer needs by overdrawing pocket money, demanding from parents, and other means. Driven by curiosity and a desire to imitate and learn, they purchase cosmetics out of a herd mentality or being attracted by internet celebrities. They often do not consider whether the product meets their actual needs, nor can they truly understand the quality and safety of the product [9]. They usually do not have independent sources of money, and high-quality cosmetics and skincare products are often expensive. They prefer products with relatively low prices. If inferior cosmetics are purchased, it may cause skin irritation and allergies, damage the skin barrier, and destroy the protective function of the skin itself, making the skin sensitive, dry, and fragile, and more susceptible to external environmental damage. Some harmful ingredients of inferior products may be absorbed through the skin, and long-term accumulation may cause potential damage to body organs.

4.  Suggestions and measures

Firstly, schools and parents should establish reasonable rules and boundaries to guide them correctly. Most high school and college students spend a lot of time on campus, with less interaction with their parents and teachers. Lack of strict supervision from parents and teachers, so that they have more free time to use the Internet [10]. So schools and family education should guide students to improve their ability to distinguish information and watch beauty short videos correctly, such as learning basic skincare skills (such as oil control and sun protection during adolescence), understanding how to apply light makeup on occasions (such as graduation photos and cultural performances), rather than simply imitating internet celebrities' makeup.

In addition, mainstream media should pay attention to playing a "reference role" and produce beauty series suitable for high school students' classroom, sports, gatherings, and travel relaxation.

Finally, families and schools should take on the responsibility of education and guardianship. Teachers and parents should pay attention to their own image, lead by example, and set a good "aesthetic demonstration". Through reasonable guidance, help teenagers establish correct aesthetic views, improve aesthetic judgment, relieve their aesthetic anxiety, and promote their comprehensive development.

5.  Conclusion

In the era of the internet, beauty short videos are shaping the aesthetic cognition, emotional development, and behavioral patterns of high school students, and children cannot escape the influence of beauty short videos. It should take a positive view of the positive effects of beauty short videos, which can satisfy needs and relieve stress. Positive beauty education content can have educational value, and it should enhance children's online literacy, making beauty short videos a useful tool for them. The joint efforts of all sectors of society can help young people better adapt to the digital age and enable high school students to grow better through coexistence with beauty short videos.