What Is FOMO?
FOMO is the feeling that something important might be happening without you. Like friends meeting up or news breaking. It is that uneasy sense that if you disconnect, you might fall behind socially or miss something meaningful.
How does FOMO connect to Phone Use?
Here is one way the cycle can work:
- You feel socially uncertain or disconnected.
- You (sometimes without actively realizing it) worry that something is happening without you.
- You check social media for reassurance.
- You may feel momentary relief.
Over time, repeated checking can become easier and more automatic. Sometimes even problematic.
What 11,000 users told us
Data from our Digital Wellbeing Initiative [Link] shows that most unwanted phone use comes from spending time on social media (see Figure 1 below). In 2011, we found this by showing ~11,000 users who opted in to the initative their last week’s top five most-used apps and then asked them which ones they used more than they would like.
Figure 1: Among ~11,000 Niagara users, we showed each person their weekly top 5 most-used apps and asked which ones they felt like they used too much. Social apps led by a wide margin.
What can you do?
If you feel like you’re on social media too much, next time you catch yourself scrolling, try asking “What feeling brought me here?”. Realizing that negative feelings like FOMO can increase the urge to check social media can be the first step to changing things. Once you learn which situations and feelings often lead to you to unintentional phone use, you can start finding alternative behaviors to manage that feeling and thereby your screen time.
Author
Lucas Haraped
UX Researcher @Niagara Launcher
Source:
[1] Gori, A., Topino, E., & Griffiths, M. D. (2023). The associations between attachment, self-esteem, fear of missing out, daily time expenditure, and problematic social media use: A path analysis model. Addictive Behaviors, 141, 107633.
Care about digital wellbeing?
Join our voluntary, privacy-first Digital Wellbeing Initiative to help us research. [Get Niagara Launcher], then opt in via Settings > Advanced > Analytics > Digital Wellbeing Initiative.