, PLEASE USE THIS DOCUMENT AS A GUIDE ONLY
THE FEAR OF MISSING OUT
1. Introduction and Background
The advent of social networking sites has fundamentally transformed the landscape of human social
interaction. Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp provide unprecedented
opportunities for individuals to stay informed about the activities, achievements, and social
gatherings of their peers. However, this constant connectivity has a psychological downside: the Fear
of Missing Out, commonly known as FoMO. Przybylski, Murayama, DeHaan and Gladwell (2013, p.
1841) define FoMO as the pervasive apprehension that “others might be having rewarding
experiences from which one is absent.” This construct captures the uneasy and often distressing
feeling that one is not participating in enjoyable or meaningful experiences that others are currently
having.
FoMO is not a trivial consequence of modern technology; rather, it is grounded in fundamental
psychological needs. Self-determination theory posits that humans have innate needs for competence,
autonomy, and relatedness (Przybylski et al., 2013). When the need for relatedness—feeling
connected to others—is thwarted, individuals become more susceptible to FoMO. Similarly, the
need-to-belong theory suggests that a strong motivation to form and maintain social bonds can make
individuals hypervigilant to cues of social exclusion (Lai, Altavilla, Ronconi & Aceto, 2016). Social
media amplifies these dynamics by providing a constant stream of social comparison information,
where users are exposed to curated, often idealised portrayals of others’ lives (Dogan, 2019).
Consequently, while social media does not cause FoMO, it significantly intensifies the experience.
The proposed research project is situated within the broader context of understanding FoMO as a
multidimensional psychological experience influenced by and influencing various personal and
social factors. The project description outlines a range of relevant variables, including the need to
belong, mattering, loneliness, interdependence, personality traits, self-esteem, social media
engagement, mental health, life satisfaction, and maladaptive behaviours such as risky and
consumptive behaviour. Given the scope of this research, each student is required to select at least
two of these factors to formulate an individual research problem.
This proposal focuses on two specific psychological factors that have been consistently shown to
influence the experience of FoMO: self-esteem and loneliness. Self-esteem, defined as an
individual’s overall subjective evaluation of their own worth (Rosenberg, 1965), has demonstrated a
robust negative relationship with FoMO. Individuals with lower self-esteem are more likely to
engage in upward social comparisons, perceive others’ lives as more rewarding, and consequently
experience greater fear of missing out (Buglass, Binder, Betts & Underwood, 2017). Loneliness, the
distressing feeling arising from a perceived discrepancy between desired and actual social
relationships, exhibits a strong positive relationship with FoMO. Lonely individuals become
hypervigilant to social opportunities while simultaneously experiencing distress from comparing
their own social reality to the seemingly successful social lives of others (Fioravanti, Casale, Benucci
& Primi, 2020). Moreover, recent evidence suggests that the relationship between loneliness and
FoMO may be bidirectional, where each construct reinforces the other over time (Lai et al., 2016).
THE FEAR OF MISSING OUT
1. Introduction and Background
The advent of social networking sites has fundamentally transformed the landscape of human social
interaction. Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp provide unprecedented
opportunities for individuals to stay informed about the activities, achievements, and social
gatherings of their peers. However, this constant connectivity has a psychological downside: the Fear
of Missing Out, commonly known as FoMO. Przybylski, Murayama, DeHaan and Gladwell (2013, p.
1841) define FoMO as the pervasive apprehension that “others might be having rewarding
experiences from which one is absent.” This construct captures the uneasy and often distressing
feeling that one is not participating in enjoyable or meaningful experiences that others are currently
having.
FoMO is not a trivial consequence of modern technology; rather, it is grounded in fundamental
psychological needs. Self-determination theory posits that humans have innate needs for competence,
autonomy, and relatedness (Przybylski et al., 2013). When the need for relatedness—feeling
connected to others—is thwarted, individuals become more susceptible to FoMO. Similarly, the
need-to-belong theory suggests that a strong motivation to form and maintain social bonds can make
individuals hypervigilant to cues of social exclusion (Lai, Altavilla, Ronconi & Aceto, 2016). Social
media amplifies these dynamics by providing a constant stream of social comparison information,
where users are exposed to curated, often idealised portrayals of others’ lives (Dogan, 2019).
Consequently, while social media does not cause FoMO, it significantly intensifies the experience.
The proposed research project is situated within the broader context of understanding FoMO as a
multidimensional psychological experience influenced by and influencing various personal and
social factors. The project description outlines a range of relevant variables, including the need to
belong, mattering, loneliness, interdependence, personality traits, self-esteem, social media
engagement, mental health, life satisfaction, and maladaptive behaviours such as risky and
consumptive behaviour. Given the scope of this research, each student is required to select at least
two of these factors to formulate an individual research problem.
This proposal focuses on two specific psychological factors that have been consistently shown to
influence the experience of FoMO: self-esteem and loneliness. Self-esteem, defined as an
individual’s overall subjective evaluation of their own worth (Rosenberg, 1965), has demonstrated a
robust negative relationship with FoMO. Individuals with lower self-esteem are more likely to
engage in upward social comparisons, perceive others’ lives as more rewarding, and consequently
experience greater fear of missing out (Buglass, Binder, Betts & Underwood, 2017). Loneliness, the
distressing feeling arising from a perceived discrepancy between desired and actual social
relationships, exhibits a strong positive relationship with FoMO. Lonely individuals become
hypervigilant to social opportunities while simultaneously experiencing distress from comparing
their own social reality to the seemingly successful social lives of others (Fioravanti, Casale, Benucci
& Primi, 2020). Moreover, recent evidence suggests that the relationship between loneliness and
FoMO may be bidirectional, where each construct reinforces the other over time (Lai et al., 2016).
