Digital Side Dishes: An Antidote to Loneliness for Today’s Youth?

Foodthink’s Perspective

“Digital side-dishes” primarily refers to the short videos, variety shows, classic dramas, novels, and any other entertainment consumed via smartphone while eating. It is generally believed that young people, in particular, use them to alleviate the loneliness and boredom of dining alone.

However, the story of “digital side-dishes” goes far beyond this. In this edition of Foodthink’s “Eat Well” column, our readers’ descriptions of these digital accompaniments are richer and more vivid, and at times, even conflicted.

Some readers expressed that it is precisely because they want to enjoy their meal that they need “digital side-dishes” to give the experience more “flavour”. Others, however, feel that these digital distractions do not necessarily help eliminate negative emotions; instead, they can make one’s state of mind worse and may even lead to the actual taste of the food being ignored.

Others argue that we should not be too critical of this dependency, as it is closely linked to changes in lifestyle and emotional states. They also shared how it feels to dine without such distractions in more positive settings. This echoes the views of some readers in the second issue of “Eat Well” regarding “how to eat without relying on takeaways”.

Whether a dependency on “digital side-dishes” is a problem may not seem urgent. However, research teams have already found that becoming absorbed in electronic devices during meals can increase total calorie intake by 15% and may lead to gastric dysfunction, indigestion, and nutritional imbalances. Perhaps we should now use the phenomenon of “digital side-dishes” as a starting point to seriously consider: in a modern society where loneliness and acceleration coexist, what does it truly mean to “eat well”? And how can we actually achieve it?

The Solitary Diners

Today, more and more people are becoming accustomed to eating alone, and “digital side-dishes” have become the “antidote” to the loneliness and boredom of the dining process. Classic dramas and popular variety shows, along with the scrolling bullet comments from people across the country, have become the fastest way for them to connect with the world in their solitary lives.

@Cheese: I want to eat well even when I’m alone, which is why I unconsciously scroll through my phone. When I was a child, eating with the whole family felt wonderful. Now that I’ve grown up and work in a big city, my meals are often just a makeshift affair. But I still have some standards for my food; I can’t just sit there and eat in total silence, can I? I’d feel like a walking corpse. Once, just as I opened my takeaway, my phone died. The only plug in my rented room is by the bed, so I sat there in silence charging my phone until it hit 15%, just to ensure I could finish the meal with a video. The waiting was agonizing; I spent the time searching for the perfect video to accompany the meal. By the time I actually started eating, half an hour had passed and the food had gone cold.

@Xiao Zhao: I usually watch for half an hour to an hour—dramas, variety shows, or Bilibili. Just eating is a bit boring; I need some audio and visual stimulation. Moreover, for someone like me who lives alone, it makes the room feel less empty.

◉ Recommendations for “meal-time variety shows” on Xiaohongshu. Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

@Shanshan: Digital side-dishes make the details of dining and living alone much richer. When I find a particularly good one, it feels like pure bliss.

@YeYe: I watch movie and TV recaps. If there’s a show I’m currently following, I’ll watch that—at least forty minutes. It generally feels like a treat; I feel accompanied, and eating becomes a happy experience that I look forward to. Sometimes at lunch in the dorm, everyone is excited to get their takeaways and then they spend time picking their “meal-time videos” before eating in companionable silence.

@LTT: Whether I use digital side-dishes depends on whether I’m eating alone. When I’m by myself, I eat incredibly fast, wolfing it down as if I were an animal (though I technically am one). Sometimes I spend two hours carefully preparing a meal, only to eat it in ten minutes; eating too fast makes me feel quite uncomfortable. Digital side-dishes force me to slow down. An episode of a drama is usually 40-odd minutes long, so I’m forced to eat for at least 30.

@Under the Lamp: When I’m home for the holidays, I eat with my family, but at school, I have to eat alone. If the food meets my expectations and I’m in a good headspace, I won’t look at my phone; otherwise, I need my digital side-dishes.

@Kandy: I certainly don’t need digital side-dishes if I’m eating with family, colleagues, or my boss, but I almost always need them for lunch and dinner when I’m alone. It’s about half reading and half watching; I just follow the Bilibili algorithm and watch whatever interests me, usually something light and simple. I just find eating alone too boring, so I watch videos to pass the time.

@Flower Garden: It relieves loneliness and provides entertainment. Also, digital side-dishes are the fastest shortcut for me to connect with the world while I eat.

◉ Many people, having settled in before their screens with their chosen “digital side-dishes”, use the bullet comments to share what they are eating that day. Image source: Bilibili video screenshot

@Nan Zai: If I start watching, I usually can’t stop—I’ll go from the table to the bed and end up staying up all night to finish it, haha. I watch dramas or variety shows, and sometimes mukbangs. It gives me a sense of companionship, a feeling that time has slowed down, and reminds me of being a child, hiding at home to watch anime after school.

When the Tyranny of Efficiency Invades Mealtime

Sometimes, people consume “digital side-dishes” simply because they want to seize the brief respite of a meal amidst the pressures of work and life to gather more entertainment or even knowledge. Eating is no longer just about the act itself, but becomes precious time that must be utilised with maximum efficiency.

@ph: For a while, my work pressure was immense. As soon as I got my food, I felt an itch in my mind, an impatience to open TikTok. If I could pair that with a bottle of ice-cold Coke, it would be perfect. Whenever I enter this state, I am reminded of George Gissing’s description of 19th-century British workers in *The Nether World*: “People poured out of the factories, eager to use these few hours with a sheer utilitarianism, as if only during this time were they living for themselves.” I feel that people today are still like this, and perhaps it is even more severe now. Leisure in the past was at least pure leisure; now, the tyranny of efficiency at work has begun to invade our private lives.

◉ *The Nether World*, widely regarded as the best work by English novelist George Gissing, centres on several impoverished families living in the slums of 19th-century London, focusing on the various hardships of the lower class—lack of money, unemployment, and the absence of decent living conditions.

@辞镜: I mainly feel like I want to save time by using my meals to do things I’m actually interested in.

@KL: If I’m just eating, I feel an inexplicable sense of “emptiness”. A big part of this is that I’ve become accustomed to a fast-paced lifestyle; I’m often multitasking. Plus, I’m actually a very fast eater—if I’m alone, a meal can be finished in five or ten minutes. Every time I finish, I get this nervous feeling of “right, what’s the next thing I should be doing”. Watching videos while eating stretches out the mealtime and gives my brain fresh stimulation; it feels like I’ve gained something extra.

@青梦: I dislike the low-quality, fast-paced content on Weibo, TikTok, and Kuaishou, so I filter for specific variety shows, films, series, documentaries, and podcasts, mainly on platforms like iQIYI, Mango TV, and Bilibili. I also choose content based on my mood (especially during period pain or when I’m feeling unwell physically or mentally, I’ll pick comedies to balance things out). I think consuming “digital pickles” is an efficient use of fragmented time, a process of broad absorption and selective extraction to build a foundation of knowledge. Those two or three hours are a brief adjustment to gather information and keep life entertaining, and it doesn’t stop me from engaging in deep reading or connecting with people offline for long, heart-to-heart conversations.

@Teresa: I follow a few specific creators and just shuffle through their videos, regardless of whether I’ve seen them before. I need background noise. I feel that if I don’t watch videos while eating, I won’t have any other time for leisure and entertainment.

@糟糟: For anime, I usually go for the “healing” kind without intense fighting; it’s similar for movies and series. I tend to prefer things that are interesting, fantastical, or have deep meaning. For a while, I watched *Family Guy* consistently during meals. Eating alone is a bit boring; it’s as if there’s a vacant slot for pleasure in terms of time and intensity, so I fill it. Or perhaps when focusing solely on eating, the lack of input creates an anxiety that is magnified by the idleness, making it unbearable?

@Hodel: I usually watch specific channels and creators, mainly content about the countryside, gardening, and food tours. The videos are short, simply to allow for a brief escape from a tedious and dull job.

◉ A key characteristic of “digital pickles” is that they must be easy to get into, allowing the brain to detach rapidly from reality. Source: Screenshot from a TikTok video

@山山: Life is too exhausting; I have to squeeze in my video watching during mealtimes. I watch K-dramas I haven’t finished, my favourite Bilibili creators, and sometimes light educational culture programmes, documentaries, and stand-up comedy. I don’t watch short-form videos, though, as they aren’t immersive enough. I usually watch for the duration of the entire meal; if I find a good video, I’ll procrastinate for ages before getting up to wash the dishes, and sometimes I’ll keep cutting into my lunch break just to get a bit more of that happiness.

@麻花: I love Western sitcoms, mostly series I’ve seen many times. I rarely watch new series while eating, although I do watch very long ones like *Law & Order*. I avoid watching anything with obvious ideological biases that make me feel offended during meals (for example, many early Western shows have a clear colonialist tone or are centered on the “white male gaze”); I prefer “harmless fluff”. I basically never watch anything that requires serious thought while eating; mealtimes are a rare chance to zone out.

“Quenching Thirst with Imaginary Plums”

For those who enjoy mukbangs and food-related videos, “digital pickles” can even act as a proxy meal.

@王定一: I usually watch for anywhere between 10 minutes and an hour, depending on many factors. My current “digital pickles” are *Peach Blossom Valley* Season 5; previously, I loved food variety shows like *Three Meals a Day*, *Wild Kitchen*, and *House for Hope*. My biggest requirement for digital pickles is the immersion of long-form video; the dopamine from the food combined with the immersive companionship of the video gives me double the pleasure. Sensorialy, my food doesn’t taste any better, but the overall five-sense experience of the dining process is enhanced.

@花果园子: Music, movies, novels—anything goes. When I’m feeling low, I’ll listen to high-energy music; it’s like a shot of adrenaline that brings me back to life. When I have no appetite, I’ll look at exquisite food, which helps me eat a few more bites.

@KL: I like watching mukbangs, roast videos, or reality shows—things that are light and pleasant. Watching food videos acts more like “quenching thirst with imaginary plums”; it’s like a digital cheat meal. While watching, it feels like my mind is in one place and my mouth in another, haha.

◉ Food has become an extremely popular vertical theme in variety shows. Pictured is a screenshot from the recent hit food show *One Meal to Rule Them All*. Source: *One Meal to Rule Them All*

Eating Has Become Merely Chewing

However, some readers suggest that watching videos doesn’t actually make the food taste better; instead, it causes them to ignore the flavour of the food itself. Eating becomes mere chewing, and can even make the meal feel tasteless.

@Hina: I usually watch while waiting for my food; during the meal, it depends on the situation, ranging from a few minutes to half an hour. I rarely watch variety shows because they’re too noisy; instead, I’ll binge a series or watch an interview, preferring a warmer tone. Generally, the videos provide a form of indirect companionship, but they haven’t made the food tastier—they just distract me from eating, which isn’t very healthy.

@王定一: Sometimes digital pickles can make your food feel completely tasteless.

@zoe: I mostly watch sitcoms like *The IT Crowd* and *Modern Family*. It’s mainly because my own cooking isn’t very good, so there’s no need to savour the flavour. Eating while watching a show distracts me from the taste of my own food; the plot is engaging, but it doesn’t make the dish taste any better.

@梦: Videos usually make us ignore the taste experience; before you know it, you’ve finished the meal.

@王维: When I have lunch and look around, almost everyone is scrolling through their phones, watching short dramas. They seem happy, as if this is a rare moment of relaxation, but I feel these videos make them completely forget the taste of their food. Eating becomes just a subconscious action. It’s only about chewing; it’s quite impolite to the food.

@山山: Watching videos while eating provides an immersive happiness and helps release the pressures of life. Although it doesn’t make the food taste better, I’m still very dependent on it.

“I Feel Like I Might Be a Bit Dead”

While it is said that “digital pickles” can alleviate loneliness, there is also a risk that they distract people, erode the desire to communicate, and cause them to sink further into suppressed emotions and a bleak existence.

@Keke: Actually, ‘electronic pickles’ aren’t necessarily linked only to loneliness or depression; even when I’m in a great mood, I still want to watch something. But if you rely on them for every meal, from morning till night, for a week straight, that’s when things go wrong. I’m particularly reluctant to look back on that time. There was one year where I spent the entire summer holiday alone at home, eating takeaways every day and scrolling through movie recaps—mainly Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Yongzheng Dynasty. After finishing them, I’d just lie there. That period was utterly bleak. Every time I tidied up the takeaway bags and collapsed onto the bed, I felt as if I were half-dead, unable to pull myself together.

◉ Takeaways allow people to eat without leaving their homes, but they also make individual lives increasingly closed off, eventually leaving behind only piles of takeaway rubbish in the hallways. Source: Foodthink

@花果园子: If my phone runs out of battery or food splashes on the screen, I just stop. Or if I can’t find a place to prop it up, I give up. So sometimes, using a phone while eating doesn’t even take that much effort. I’ve thought about breaking free from ‘digital pickles’; after all, they scatter my focus and leave me unable to concentrate in my daily life. Plus, you get tired of it—you become indifferent to everything, reaching a point where nothing feels like ‘fun’ anymore.

@梦: I can’t seem to do both at once. I either get so absorbed in the video that I forget to eat, or I’m so focused on the food that I miss details in the video. Either way, it leaves me feeling unsettled. I’ve noticed my husband sometimes watches short videos while eating—mostly light topics, like sudden weather updates or clips of cats and dogs. If a video is too emotionally intense, complex, or long, he swipes away. I can tell he’s not actually relaxing; it’s more like he’s being anaesthetised, drained by them.

@山山: Being in a relationship once helped me quit my ‘digital pickles’. We agreed not to be that kind of couple who just eat with their heads down, each staring at their own phone, and we actually managed it. When eating out, we’d chat; at home, we’d share shows we liked. But then we split up, and I went back to eating with ‘digital pickles’—I’ve even reached the point where if I can’t find something to watch, I choose not to eat, searching until I find something.

Do you want to quit your ‘digital pickles’?

It seems people’s attitudes toward ‘digital pickles’ are deeply conflicted. After weighing it up, what choices do they make? And what attempts have they made to quit?

@Hina: There was a period when my phone addiction was severe; I couldn’t put it down even while eating. Later, I read some psychology books and started practising things like giving thanks before a meal, plating my food carefully, observing the food closely, and chewing every mouthful with intention—showing respect for the food… These small methods are essentially ways to reclaim one’s attention from the virtual world of the phone and bring it back to reality. As long as you persist and do it consciously, you can break free from ‘digital pickles’, though the urge to pick up the phone occasionally still hits.

@灯下: I try to control it by stopping my meal whenever I pick up my phone to scroll through messages, and only resuming eating once the phone is down. This helps me ignore the taste of the food and the boredom of eating alone. But sometimes it makes it hard to focus on the video content and extends the length of the meal, which then makes me feel irritable.

◉ Eating while using a phone has become a commonplace habit for people today. Source: Foodthink

@王维: My suggestion is to first develop an awareness. One way is to rediscover the sacredness of eating; mindful eating is also worth a try. Additionally, scrolling through videos is a way for many to relieve stress, so breakthroughs can be found through stress management. Finally, video platforms are designed to manipulate and guide our attention; we need to step back and see this for what it is. Once you recognise the mechanism, you are no longer misled by it, and you become free.

@KL: I do want to break free from ‘digital pickles’ because I often leave a mess on the table after eating and put off tidying up, which disrupts the rest of my schedule and leads to a cycle of rushing and regret. When I’m not busy, a single meal accompanied by a video can take over two hours—far beyond a normal mealtime. By the time I finish, the food has long passed its peak flavour, which is terrible. But so far, I haven’t tried any concrete methods to stop.

@辞镜: I don’t feel the need to quit. For someone eating alone, it’s a useful tool for emotional regulation, unless it actually impacts physical health. ‘Digital pickles’ are perhaps just a placebo for how we spend our time. Only something more important or meaningful can replace them.

@王定一: I hadn’t thought about it before, but I later realised that the intense continuity of these ‘digital pickles’ makes me reluctant to leave the ‘virtual’ world after eating, delaying my studies or housework. Now, I consciously try to limit my intake. I’ve tried controlling the time I spend watching videos, but I still find it hard to resist the instant dopamine hit from variety shows like *Taohuawu*.

Sometimes, the problem isn’t the ‘digital pickles’ themselves, but whether your life is rich enough. My most memorable experience was in Guantang New Village in Chengdu. I sat by the fields eating; through the gaps in the fine-leaved grass, I could glimpse the mountains, forests, and plains. In that moment, the phone was useless; the experience brought by the new surroundings was, in itself, a most delicious ‘pickle’.

@Teresa: I’ve thought about it, especially after realising I’ve developed a habit of needing to watch or listen to something at all times. Video content constantly swirls in my head, leaving me unable to think for myself, or to focus on recalling and forming my own opinions on things I’ve just learned or seen.

@糟糟: I’m not sure, but I’ve actually stopped enjoying videos while eating lately. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been feeling unwell and was diagnosed with a lung nodule, which has made me more health-conscious. I feel that eating mindfully is very important for health, and even quite pleasant. When I feel unwell, I close my eyes and meditate to feel my body; I also rely on intuition and appetite to discover that sometimes I genuinely prefer more vegetables and less meat.

Rebuilding the ‘Nearby’ through Food

Many readers believe that if they were in more positive social or emotional relationships, they would naturally no longer need ‘digital pickles’; eating would instead become a medium for bonding with family, partners, and friends. In truth, the existence of ‘digital pickles’ reflects the fact that humans still have a fundamental need to connect with others and the world through the act of eating. This, in turn, prompts us to think about how we can use food as a medium to rebuild connections with the people in our immediate vicinity.

@Hodel：When I eat with others, I don’t look at my phone—especially when there’s a topic to discuss and the company feels natural. Returning to the act of eating itself is actually a way of being more attentive to one’s own body, and it’s a moment where we can truly connect with others; there are, of course, many benefits to this. When “digital sides” become the only companion available outside of work, choosing them is a “choice born of having no choice.”

@KL：When dining with friends, there is absolutely no time to look at a phone. Another case is when the place has a beautiful view; eating alone while taking in the scenery feels very peaceful. Oh, and then there’s the case where there’s local gossip—whether it’s about people or little animals. Fresh events happening right in front of me are far more interesting than a phone at that moment.

@梦：I think if I’m eating alone, or with friends watching a slow-paced long-form video together, it’s a pleasant experience. However, if my husband is eating with me but scrolling through short videos at the same time, I’ll put up with it for a while and then express my dissatisfaction, because I feel ignored. I’ll try to find common ground and attempt to counter the pull of the phone through conversation. Sometimes I succeed, especially when I’m telling an interesting story; other times I fail, usually when he’s not in a great headspace that day.

@Hina：When I eat with my family, I don’t pick up my phone. I don’t get much time with my parents, so mealtime is our time to be together.

◉ A Bilibili creator specifically brought food made by mothers to fellow Northerners working in the South, moving many viewers. Sometimes, we don’t need to look outward for the meaning of a meal; food itself already encapsulates profound emotions. Image source: Bilibili @北饭南调

@王定一：When eating with others, I don’t watch videos. In my dopamine priority list, chatting with family, friends, or clients, exchanging and expanding knowledge, and sharing stories bring me more satisfaction. I feel that “digital sides” are the “condiments” for people in the atomised society of the city, but when I return to the close-knit community of my hometown or the countryside, I no longer need them. I believe digital sides have two sides to them: if we could categorise people, provide identity markers, and build a vertical community where people can share digital sides, discuss facts, and share perspectives, it would be a very interesting practice. We could use food to “reclaim the local”, providing each other with companionship and dining together in solidarity.

@LTT：Does having someone sitting opposite you at the table automatically mean you stop using digital sides? Sometimes, people are less appealing than digital sides. As a child, I always saw TV dramas where the whole family chatted happily at the dinner table, but my family was the exact opposite—cooking could take two hours, but eating took only ten minutes. My parents were silent, the meal ended quickly, and we all dispersed to do our own thing. So, I always fantasised about how it would feel to share the day’s news with my family at the table after finishing work. Now that I have my own small family, work brings nothing but helplessness and pressure; talking about it at the table only reinforces those memories, plunging the brain into negative emotions.

@耶耶：With my family, I focus entirely on the meal; I feel very happy eating together.

@山山：In professional settings, I put my phone away, forced to do so for basic social etiquette. In truth, I really dislike eating with most people from work; every waking moment I want to take out my phone and escape the world. But when eating with people who are close to me—people who can truly “see” me—I naturally don’t watch videos. Because my inner needs are met, I can listen properly and be listened to.

@楠崽：When eating with others in a social setting, there are times when everyone just looks at their own phone; it’s quite cold.

@Road：Generally, when I go out to eat with friends, I don’t look at my phone, because with good friends there are always plenty of new things or viewpoints to share and hear, which far outweighs the attraction of digital sides. When eating with my partner, we often watch a series, but not to save the emotional energy we owe each other; rather, it actually makes our communication tighter and warms our relationship. The most obvious sign is that we have more shared inside jokes, and the language we use in daily conversation becomes richer, allowing us to convey more complex things. For example, lines from *My Own Swordsman* often appear in our conversations.

“Cooking is a form of self-healing”

When seeking the meaning of eating, we often forget the meaning of cooking. Cooking is fundamentally a process of intimate interaction between yourself, the food, and nature. Sometimes, the happiness and satisfaction that cooking brings are enough to heal the monotony and scarcity of life.

@sora：Loneliness is a symptom of the modern person, and “digital sides” are the cure, but for me, it sometimes feels more like drinking poison to quench thirst; I never feel fully satisfied. Later, I discovered that the feeling of loneliness is only truly healed when I cook for myself. Throughout the process, my hands are moving, my eyes are watching, my nose is smelling, and my ears are listening; all the senses are engaged, and it feels grounding. If I can then raise a glass and have a hearty conversation with my family, that sense of fullness and satisfaction is incomparable to scrolling through short videos.

◉ Home-cooked dishes that sora is good at making. Image source: sora

@zoe：Actually, I quite like chatting with others while I eat. If someone eats a dish I’ve cooked, I’ll definitely be complaining and chatting as we eat. I generally don’t look at my phone when eating with others; I like to chat and eat, and I might also comment on the food.

@梦：When my husband needs digital sides, I suspect it’s because he feels the meal is exactly the same as always and lacks enough attraction. But when he puts all his effort into cooking a meal himself, he doesn’t need any accompanying videos; he focuses entirely on the food.

@小梅：I remember when I was little, my mother worked hard to make a meal; she loved seeing me enjoy the food and didn’t like it when I was distracted by the television. Now that I’ve started cooking for myself, I also hope my family or friends can give some reaction to my cooking—perhaps a comment or showing that they really like it—rather than scrolling through short videos. I sometimes can’t even tolerate it when they just chat amongst themselves. Because this meal isn’t a takeaway delivered at the touch of a button; it contains the energy and heart I’ve put into it. Whether I eat it myself or with others, I hope to simply savour the process; that makes me feel fulfilled.

Planning: Carrie

Editing: Yuyang