According to Somebody Digital, a marketing agency based in London, endless social-media scrolling is reshaping the way brands engage with consumers.

The agency's newest report compiles research from various sources, including the University of California and the Journal of Behavioral Neuroscience, which shows that the average person spends up to 3 hours per day scrolling social media.

Considering the widespread popularity of short-form video features across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and other major social platforms, 1 in 4 adults admit they struggle to stop scrolling.

With consumer behavior now largely rooted around the digestion of nonstop bite-sized video content, Somebody Digital has tips for brands that want to stand out amid the noise.

Scrolling through social media platforms elicits the same neural pathways as addictive substances in the human brain, creating a psychological dependency, according to research by the Journal of Behavioural Neuroscience.

Due to the proliferation of shorter video-based content assembled in endless mobile feeds, the average attention span has shrunk to 1.2 seconds for the average Gen Z consumer -- a 40% decrease compared to 5 years ago.

It is understandable why in 2024, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, along with 42 attorneys general, suggested that Congress require cigarette-like Surgeon General warning labels of social-media apps to help raise awareness surrounding an ongoing mental health crisis, especially among children, teens and young adults.

For brands wanting to break through to consumers on social media apps, Somebody Digital says that brands should utilize unexpected visuals or animations to disrupt automatic scrolling behavior. For example, animations that move in the opposite direction of a user scrolling upwards, sudden changes in color or the use of parallax effects.

This pattern interruption is meant to activate the brain's reticular activating system (RAS), which decides what information reaches consciousness. Unexpected elements can prompt ones RAS to flag content as important.

Because users often flock to social media platforms as a way to unwind or escape their daily stresses, Somebody Digital suggests that a brand's content be easily comprehensible and require minimal concentration.

"As soon as the content begins, users should be made aware of the benefits of watching," the report reads. "Ultimately, a brand must immediately ignite the brain's reward system."

Somebody Digital says that this tactic allows brands with lower budgets to stand out by creating an emotional impact with clarity, not elaborate design or complicated messaging.