Background <p>Short video addiction is prevalent among nursing students and frequently coexists with inattention, and their comorbidity may exert substantial impacts on academic performance and mental health.</p> Aim <p>This study aimed to (1) identify central symptoms within the short video addiction and inattention symptom network, (2) detect bridge symptoms connecting distinct symptom clusters, and (3) simulate interventions to explore potential intervention and prevention targets.</p> Methods <p>A multi-center cross-sectional survey was conducted between August and December 2025, involving 456 undergraduate nursing students from four nursing colleges in China. The research employed several tools, including a general information questionnaire, the revised Chinese Internet Addiction Scale, and the Inattention subscale of the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale. Network analysis was used to construct symptom networks and identify central and bridge symptoms, while the NodeIdentifyR algorithm was applied to simulate alleviating and aggravating interventions on each node to examine projected effects on overall network symptom activation.</p> Results <p>Network analysis revealed that “Compulsive Use and Withdrawal” emerged as the most central symptom in the network, while “Interpersonal and Health Problems” served as the primary bridge symptom. Alleviating interventions suggested that decreasing the symptom value of “Compulsive Use and Withdrawal” resulted in the greatest projected reduction in network symptom activation. Aggravating interventions indicated that elevating the symptom value of “Does not listen” had the most projected increase in network activation.</p> Conclusions <p>This study highlights the importance of attending to “Compulsive Use and Withdrawal” and “Interpersonal and Health Problems” in the comorbidity of short video addiction and inattention among nursing students, and reveals that “Does not listen” may be a prevention target based on simulation results. These findings deepen our understanding of the network of short video addiction and inattention symptoms among undergraduate nursing students. These findings may offer useful insights for nursing educators and researchers to further explore this comorbidity and its implications for students’ well-being and academic performance.</p> Clinical trial number <p>Not applicable.</p>