Amusing Ourselves to Death: A Study on the Problems and Governance Approaches of Short Video Pan-entertainment in the Information Age

In the Information age, the exponential growth of Short video platforms has reshaped social information dissemination. However, the resulting Pan-entertainment phenomenon poses a significant challenge to the digital civilization ecosystem. Drawing on the dual perspectives of the Political economy of communication and cultural criticism theory, this paper systematically deconstructs the underlying logic of short video Pan-entertainment through a combination of systematic literature review and multiple case studies. The study finds that this phenomenon weakens the depth of public discourse through the mechanism of cognitive dimensionality reduction, exacerbates the symbolic alienation of cultural consumerism, and induces Nihilism in adolescents' values. To address this, this paper proposes a Three-dimensional collaborative governance framework involving "government-platform-creator" collaboration, offering a theoretical reference for building a digital public sphere that integrates Humanistic care and Technology for good. This study not only deepens the critical understanding of the Social consequences of media technology but also provides an interdisciplinary research path for the paradigm shift in digital ecosystem governance.