Fear of missing out (FoMO) and rumination mediate relations between social anxiety and problematic Facebook use

Abstract

Introduction Prior research has found that psychopathology constructs such as depression and anxiety are associated with problematic use of Facebook (PFU). In the present study, we examined a structural equation model whereby depression, social anxiety and lower life satisfaction predicted PFU severity, while analyzing mediating variables including rumination, fear of missing out (FoMO), and frequency of Facebook use, as well as age and gender as covariates. Method Participants were 296 college students administered a web survey of instruments measuring these constructs. Results Modeling results demonstrate that FoMO and rumination were significantly related to PFU severity. Facebook use frequency was related to PFU severity. FoMO and rumination each mediated relations between social anxiety and PFU severity. Conclusions Results are discussed in the context of prior work on FoMO and excessive technology use, as well as several relevant theoretical frameworks.

Adult Attachment Orientations and Social Networking Site Addiction: The Mediating Effects of Online Social Support and the Fear of Missing Out

“…It refers to the feeling that others may be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent, characterized by the desire to stay connected with what others are doing (Przybylski et al, 2013). Thus, FOMO could act as both a predictor of social media engagement and addiction (Alt, 2015;Elhai et al, 2016) and a mediator between individual differences and SNS addiction (Beyens et al, 2016;Dempsey et al, 2019). Indirect and direct evidence supports the idea that attachment differences may be correlated with FOMO.…”

Fear of Missing Out and Smartphone Addiction Mediates the Relationship Between Positive and Negative Affect and Sleep Quality Among Chinese University Students

“…Recent studies have identified that social media use (5)(6)(7)(8)(9), psychological need satisfaction (1,(10)(11)(12), and personality traits (13)(14)(15)(16)(17) may be considered as risk factors of FoMO. Wolniewicz et al also reported that FoMO was most strongly associated with both problematic smartphone use and normal smartphone use (e.g., video and voice calls, text/instant messaging, email, social networking sites) relative to negative affect and fears of negative and positive evaluation (18), similar to the relationship between FoMO and other types of internet addiction (e.g., Facebook addiction, social networking site [SNS] addiction) (19)(20)(21)(22)(23). State-FoMO has been found to directly and indirectly impact phubbing via problematic Instagram use, whereas trait-FoMO has been indirectly associated with phubbing via state-FoMO and problematic Instagram use (24).…”

A narrative Overview About Psychosocial Characteristics as Risk Factors of a Problematic Social Networks Use

“…Several studies illustrated the importance of FoMO as a risk factor of problematic social networks use [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69]. Furthermore, FoMO mediated the effect of specific predisposing variables (e.g., interpersonal sensitivity, depression, social anxiety, self-esteem) on tendencies of social networks use disorder [65,66,70,71]. In addition, further studies discussed the role of FoMO as an underlying mechanism, assuming that it is based on both social needs and the fear of social isolation [61][62][63].…”

“…Additionally, several studies showed that FoMO, avoidance expectancies when using social networks, or the anticipated fear of social isolation mediates the effect of social deficits on tendencies of a problematic social networks use (e.g., [66,71]). The expectancies to reduce the fear of social isolation and FoMO online could be summarized as negative reinforcement mechanism.…”