FoMO
Fear of Missing Out
What is FoMO?
FoMO is described as a negative consequence of the use of social media. The acronym FoMO stands for Fear of Missing Out and is defined as the desire to be permanently informed about what others are doing on social media, coupled with the belief that others are experiencing more rewarding situations than one’s own and a permanent desire to seek new information (Przybylski et al., 2013). This may lead to an excessive use of technology.
Symptoms of FoMO:
FoMO may be identified by its symptoms.
- The first thing that the person suffering from FoMO will experience is the need to compare themselves to what they see on social media, and that comparison may generate discomfort, a feeling that others are having more rewarding social experiences, are having a better time, and are happier..
- FoMO creates interpersonal difficulties, as it may lead to excessive use of social media and may make it difficult to relate to friends and relatives.
- Feelings of loneliness, depression and anxiety, difficulty concentrating and paying attention, along with a possible impairment of sleep cycles may occur, which may complicate academic and/or work life and self-esteem..
Another way to find out if you suffer from FoMO is by using scales. For example, our research team has adapted and validated the FoMO-Scale to the Argentine context, based on the original scale created by Li et al. (2021), who divided the scale into two dimensions: On the one hand, FOM-NI (Fear of Missing Novel Information) seems to be related to the fear that other people are having more rewarding experiences as a result of a constant updating of information, while on the other hand, FOM-SO (Fear of Missing Social Opportunities) involves ruminating to try to understand the communicative codes of interaction that are specific to the groups to which people around them belong.