IAHRW International Journal of Social Sciences Review, 2024, 12(2), 218-222 © 2024 Indian Association of Health, Research and

Indian Association of Health, Research and Welfare

Peer-reviewed and Indexed Journal ISSN-2347-3797
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Understanding FOMO, Social Media Addiction, and

Subjective Well-being among Young Adults
Rubini T. R. and Shilpa Siby
Department of Psychology, Stella Maris College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Technology has evolved a lot; we have reached a point where almost everything has become handy. People invest a
lot of their time online. Today we can easily know about other people's life updates and can connect to people. The
population that uses social media a lot is adolescents and young adults. Being bombarded with information and
minute details about other's lives can negatively impact individuals and one among them is the anxiety or fear of
missing rewarding experiences that others are having. Technology and social media have pros and cons which has
been the area of research in recent times. A correlation analysis was done to understand the relationship between fear
of missing out (FOMO), social media addiction and subjective well-being among young adults. This study was
conducted on 99 participants from India through circulating questionnaires on Fear of missing out scale by Mazlum
and Atalay in 2022; Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale by Andreassen et al. in 2016; and The BBC Well-being
scale by Kinderman et al. in 2011. The results revealed that there is a moderate positive correlation between FOMO
and social media addiction, and a weak negative correlation between FOMO and subjective well-being.
Additionally, there was also a moderate negative correlation between social media addiction and subjective well-
being. This study shed light on the relationship between these variables.

Keywords: fear of missing out, social media addiction, subjective well-being, young adults

Currently, 4.9 billion people are active users of social media complicated and ruining their mental health. People are exposed to
worldwide, and this number is expected to reach approximately 5.89 many details about another person's life, making them overwhelmed
billion users by 2027 (Wong, 2024). In India, approximately 398.0 and constantly comparing themselves with others. Often,
million users are aged 18 and above, that is, 40.2 percent of the entire individuals forget that people only post the positive aspects of their
country's population and 67.5% of internet users (including all age lives while excluding the negative aspects. Repeated worries about
categories) are engaged in at least one social networking platform. whether they are in the right place as others seem to be or perceive
The average person uses a social media platform for approximately that they have not yet reached the place where others can make one
145 min per day. Facebook and Instagram are the most commonly feel anxious and left out of the group with which they identify. Social
used social media platforms in India. Instagram has more users, comparison often leads to fear of missing out (FoMO), feelings of
comprising 74.70% Internet users, followed by Facebook with irritability, anxiety, and inadequacy that an individual feels when
71.20% Internet users (Wong, 2024). Individuals do not simply he/she misses out on satisfying and beneficial developments and
involve themselves in a single platform; rather, they engage in opportunities (Steinberger & Kim, 2023). FoMO has been defined as
multiple platforms and keep checking updates and change frequently “a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding
from one platform to another. experiences from which one is absent,” or “the desire to stay
As social beings, we want to connect with people and stay in touch continually connected with what others are doing” (Przybylski et al.,
with friends and family. Across ages, there were various ways in 2013). FoMO is a phenomenon that affects a wide range of
which people stayed connected to others. The means of adolescents and young people and is mediated by social media
communication have changed over time. Currently, we are in the exposure. Tandon et al. (2021) defined FOMO as the fear and anxiety
digital era. The first thing an individual does in the morning is to that individuals would feel from not being in touch with the
check their phone for new updates or notifications. They start their experiences in their large social circles. FoMO refers to the feeling or
day by viewing other people's stories and status. On the verge of perception that other people have more fun and live their lives to the
making connections and networking with others, people have fullest while believing that they do not have similar rewarding
become deeply involved in the use of social media, making life experiences (Gupta & Sharma, 2021). FoMO affects human
behaviour in many ways; the constant needs to be connected and
Author Note updated on what others are doing could lead to frequently checking
one's social media for new updates (Gupta & Sharma, 2021). Social
Rubini, T. R., B.Sc. Psychology, Department of Psychology, Stella
media addiction can be one of the outcomes of frequent checks on
Maris College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
social media because of the fear of missing an opportunity or not
Dr. Shilpa Siby, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
knowing what others are doing. Social media addiction is a type of
Stella Maris College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
behavioural addiction that is broadly defined as a compulsive
We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
engagement in social media platforms that significantly disrupts the
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
users' functioning in important life domains, such as interpersonal
Rubini, T. R., B.Sc. Psychology, Department of Psychology, Stella
relations, work or study performance, and physical health
Maris College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
(Andreassen et al., 2016). Social media addiction, like any other
E-mail: [email protected]
IAHRW International Journal of Social Sciences Review, 2024, 12(2), 218-222 219

addiction, has ill effects such as low self-esteem and self-confidence feeling of missing out on rewarding experiences that others seem to
and can have a negative effect on a person's overall well-being. With have and problematic Internet usage can be considered risk factors
the expansion of social media and other communication that affect individuals' mental health. As people unconsciously
developments, FOMO has increased and subjective well-being has compare themselves with popular figures in social media they feel
decreased (Bai et al., 2021). Subjective well-being is defined as an gloomy, which in turn affects their subjective well-being. The need
individual's assessment of quality in terms of goodness and to know what others are doing and to post what they are doing can
happiness (Steptoe et al., 2015). When people compare themselves play a major role in experiencing FoMO. This could also be a reason
with others, they tend to look down on their life and feel that there is a why people constantly check social media sites to keep themselves
space within them. They might feel that not experiencing the updated and feel like they are actively part of the group they identify
rewarding experiences that others are having can give no purpose or with. Social media addiction is related to fear of missing out, and
meaning to their life. This might give them a negative view about there are high chances that fear of missing out can contribute to
their life and have difficulty in assessing the quality of life in terms of social media addiction and vice versa (Ahmad et al., 2023). Similar
goodness and happiness. results were found in the study on internet addiction and life
satisfaction in university students by Koç in 2017, students with
Need of the Study high-level internet addiction have low-level life satisfaction and
In the digital era, understanding how FoMO contributes to an positive emotions, and high-level negative feelings. There were
individual's relationship with Internet usage and its effect on mental also studies which show the negative effect of social media
health and well-being is important. Social media usage has addiction on subjective well-being (Wu et al., 2023; Gugushvili et
accelerated in recent times, and trying to understand the intricate al., 2020).
connection between addictive behaviour related to social media and
individuals' perceptions of their well-being, life satisfaction, and Research Questions
happiness offers insights into identifying the risk factors and adverse ● Is there a relationship between FOMO and social media addiction
outcomes of problematic usage of social media. Exploring the among young adults?
relationship between FoMO, social media addiction, and subjective ● Is there a relationship between FOMO and subjective well-being
well-being is crucial because it sheds light on the interconnection among young adults?
between technology and its impact on mental health. This can also ● Is there a relationship between social media addiction and
provide valuable insights into strategies and interventions to subjective well-being among young adults?
promote healthy technology usage habits and overall well-being.
The primary aim of this study was to identify the correlation between Objective of the Study
FOMO, social media addiction, and subjective well-being among To examine the relationship between FOMO, social media
young adults (aged 18-25). addiction, and subjective well-being in young adults.

Review of Literature Hypotheses of the Study

Barry and Wong (2020) in the study Fear of missing out (FoMO): A ● H1: There will be no significant relationship between Fear of
generational phenomenon or an individual difference: found that Missing Out (FOMO) and social media addiction among young
FoMO from adolescence to middle adulthood correlates better with adults.
self-perception, specifically having low self-esteem, low self- ● H2: There will be no significant relationship between Fear of
compassion, and high levels of loneliness. The results of this study Missing Out (FOMO) and subjective well-being among young
show that FOMO is an individual phenomenon rather than a adults.
generational one. It also quoted that FOMO may be more common ● H3: There will be no significant relationship between social
among individuals who do not think positively of themselves and/or media addiction and subjective well-being among young adults.
feel socially isolated. In addition, the study also indicated that social
media usage immediately before sleep can cause sleep disturbances Definition
and an inability to fall asleep. A study by Baker et al. (2016) gives Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)- “FOMO is the fear and anxiety that
more evidence about the physical symptoms related to the fear of individuals would feel from not being in touch with the experiences
missing out such as experiencing more physical and depressive in their large social circles” (Tandon et al., 2021). FOMO in this
symptoms and having trouble in concentration and also causes an study is operationally defined in terms of the scores of the subject on
overall decline in productivity and worsening mental health. The Fear of missing out scale (Mazlum & Atalay, 2022).
same study also provides evidence that FOMO has a possible effect Social Media Addiction- a type of behavioural addiction that is
on the overall well-being of an individual and also shows that three- broadly defined as a compulsive engagement in social media
quarters of young adults feel anxious when they encounter the risk of platforms that significantly disrupts the users' functioning in
missing out on the experience that their peers and friends are having. important life domains, such as interpersonal relations, work or
FOMO starts with distorted thinking related to the sense of fear of study performance, and physical health (Andreassen et al., 2016).
being left out from a rewarding experience and reinforced with Social media addiction in this study is operationally defined in terms
constant responsiveness to social networking sites. FOMO has a of the scores of the subject on Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale
negative correlation with young adult's subjective well-being and (Andreassen et al., 2016)
psychological well-being (Prabowo & Dewi, 2021; Metin-Orta, Subjective Well-being- Individual's assessment of quality in terms of
2020; Bai et al., 2021). Studies have shown that FoMO can be used as goodness and happiness is known as subjective well-being (Steptoe
a catalyst for social media addiction. The anxiety caused by the et al., 2015). Subjective well-being in this study is operationally
220 RUBINI AND SIBY/ UNDERSTANDING FOMO, SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION

defined in terms of the scores of the subject on The BBC Well-being each variable; Fear of Missing Out, social media addiction, and
scale (Kinderman et al., 2011) subjective well-being. The current study attempts to explore the
relationship between fear of missing out, and social media addiction
Method among young adults. There were 99 participants in total. 74.5% of
The present study involves a sample size of 99 young adults both the population was students, 17.3% were working and 8.2% were in
male and female from Tamil Nadu within the age range of 18 25 with the category of not working. The gender distribution indicates a
various educational qualifications and employment status. The slight majority of female participants (81.8%) compared to male
mean age of the population is 21 years. participants (17.2%) and one participant preferred not to reveal their
Inclusion Criteria gender. The most used social media sites by the participants were
Instagram with 90.9 % of the population using social media,
● Aged between 18-25
YouTube with 55.6%, other sites with 9.1%, twitter with 6%, and
● Active users of social media (at least one social media platform) Facebook with 4%. They were allowed to select multiple sites. Most
Exclusion Criteria of the participants used social media for an average of 2-5 hours in a
● Aged between 18-25 but not a user of social media day (64.3%), 18.4% used for less than 2 hours and 17.3% of the
● Individuals with developmental disorders participants used social media for more than 2 hours every day.
Group descriptive statistics were determined for each variable.
Research Design FOMO figures of 99 participants had a mean of 53.06 and SD of
Correlation design was used to explore the relationship between 10.84. This indicates that the group has a moderate level of FOMO.
FoMO, social media addiction, and subjective well-being among Social media addiction figures of 99 participants had a mean of 16.71
young adults. and SD of 4.39. This suggests that the group has a moderate level of
social media addiction. Subjective well-being figures of 99
Measures
participants had a mean of 78.64 and SD of 16.15. This indicates that
Fear of Missing Out Scale developed by Mazlum and Atalay in 2022 the group has a moderate level of subjective well-being.
is a self report questionnaire. It is a FoMO 5- point Likert scale had
five response options which were completely disagree (1), disagree Table 1
(2), neither agree nor disagree (3), agree (4) and completely agree Indicates the Mean and Standard Deviation of the Variables
(5), consisting of 17 items examining 2 factors, private factor with 9 Variables Mean Standard deviation
items and social factors with 8 items. Higher scores indicate higher
FOMO. This questionnaire is reliable and valid. The reliability FOMO 53.06 10.84
coefficients were 0.84 Social media addiction 16.71 4.39
Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale developed by Andreassen et al. Subjective well-being 78.64 16.15
in 2016 is self-report questionnaire designed to measure social The line graphs enriche the analysis by visually representing the
media addiction is a six items, 5 point Likert scale with response of 1 individual scores of participants for Fear of Missing Out (FOMO),
for “very rarely” to 5 for “very often”. Higher scores indicate higher Social Media Addiction (SMA), and Subjective Well-Being (SWB).
addiction. This tool is valid and reliable. The reliability coefficient The line graph incorporates horizontal lines for each participant and
were α = 0.88 vertical lines corresponding to their respective scores on the three
The BBC Well-being Scale developed by Kinderman et al. in 2011 is variables. Each variable is depicted in a distinct colour, allowing for
a self report questionnaire designed to measure the subjective well- a clear differentiation. Upon examining the line graph, it becomes
being of an individual. It is a 5-point Likert scale with responses 1 for evident that participants' scores on FOMO, SMA, and SWB exhibit a
“not at all” and 5 for “extremely”. Item 4, “do you feel depressed/ varied and distributed pattern.
anxious” is reversed scored. It has 3-factor; psychological well-
being, physical well-being and relationships. Higher scores indicate
high subjective well being. Modified version of the BBC Subjective
Well-being scale is a reliable and valid measure for the online
assessment of subjective well-being in the general population with
good psychometric properties.
Data Collection
Data collection was done online by circulating questionnaires
through Google Forms to the targeted sample. There were 101
responses, where 2 of them exceeded the age limit so the data were
excluded. Demographic details of the participants were collected;
details such as name, age, educational qualification, employment
status, number of hours spent on social media, and mostly used social
media platforms. The questionnaires used in this study are
Correlation analysis provided valuable insights into the
Results relationship among the variables. Scatter plots for Fear of missing
The study consists of an online survey divided into 4 sections out (FOMO) and social media addiction (SMA), FOMO and
including the demographic details section and a questionnaire for Subjective Well-being (SWB), and SMA and SWB were created to
IAHRW International Journal of Social Sciences Review, 2024, 12(2), 218-222 221

visually explore the relationships between these variables. In Figure 2

examining the relationship between Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) Scatter Plot for FOMO and SMA
and social media addiction, a moderate positive correlation of 0.381
was found, with a two-tailed p-value (0.00) less than 0.01 at a 99%
confidence level. The scatter plot for FOMO and SMA, as shown in
Fig. 2 exhibits a positively sloped pattern, suggesting a moderate
positive correlation. Therefore the null hypothesis was rejected,
indicating a statistically significant positive correlation between
FOMO and social media addiction. When exploring the relationship
between FOMO and subjective well-being (SWB), a weak negative
linear relationship of -0.220 was obtained with the corresponding p-
value of 0.025 less than 0.05 significance of 95% confidence level.
And the scatter plot in Fig.2 was also negatively sloped. Hence the
null hypothesis was rejected, indicating a significant negative
correlation between FOMO and subjective well-being. Similarly,
when analysing social media addiction and subjective well being,
there was a moderate negative correlation of -0.303 with a p-value of
0.002 below the 0.01 significance level at a 99% confidence level.
Figure 3
The scatter plot in Fig.3 also demonstrated the same through a
negatively sloped pattern supporting the correlation. Therefore the Scatter Plot for SWB and SMA
null hypothesis is rejected as there is a significant negative
correlation between social media addiction and subjective well-
being among young adults. These finding rejects the overall null
hypothesis; there will be no significant correlations between Fear of
Missing Out (FOMO), social media addiction, and subjective well-
being among young adults therefore the alternative hypothesis is
proved i.e. there was a significant correlation between Fear of
Missing Out (FOMO), social media addiction, and subjective well-
being among young adults. The visualizations of these relationships
provide a more intuitive understanding of the direction and strength
of these associations. The observed patterns in the scatterplots
strengthen the conclusion that there are significant correlations
between FOMO, social media addiction, and subjective well-being
among young adults.
Table 2 Discussion
Indicates the Correlation Coefficient and the Significance of the The primary purpose of this study was to find the relationship
Variable between FOMO, social media addiction and subjective well-being
Variables r Sig. among young adults. The result of this study provides insight that
there is a relationship between fear of missing out, social media
FOMO and social media addiction -0.381 **
addiction and subjective well-being. The study shows that there is a
FOMO and subjective well-being -0.220 *
moderate positive correlation between social media addiction and
Social media addiction and subjective well-being -0.303 **
FOMO, therefore the fear of missing an opportunity or an event can
Note.** Correlation is significant at 0.01 level * Correlation is significant at be one of the reasons the individual engages in repeated indulging in
0.05 level the usage of social media networks eventually leading to social
Figure 1 media addiction or repeated exposure social media sites and what
others lives look like can create an anxious feeling in the individual
Scatter Plot for FOMO and SWB
leading to FOMO. This research is in line with the results of the study
by Ahmad et al. (2023) suggest that the higher the social media
addiction that occurs in individuals, the higher the fear of missing
out. There is a weak negative correlation between FOMO and
subjective well-being; hence the fear of missing out can have a
negative impact on an individual's view of life or a negative view of
life can lead to FOMO. Therefore if FOMO increases then subjective
well-being decreases and vice versa. Similarly, there is a moderate
negative correlation between social media addiction and subjective
well-being, therefore if social media addiction increases then
subjective well-being decreases and vice versa. In contrast to
Roberts and David's (2019) results which imply FOMO can have a
222 RUBINI AND SIBY/ UNDERSTANDING FOMO, SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION

positive effect on subjective well-being as it helps in social Org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.568492

connection whereas the current research shows that FOMO has a Baker, Z. G., Krieger, H., & LeRoy, A. S. (2016). Fear of missing out: Relationships with
depression, mindfulness, and physical symptoms. Translational Issues in
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Two dimensions of problematic smartphone use mediate the relationship between
● There is a significant positive relationship between fear of missing fear of missing out and emotional well-being. Cyberpsychology: Journal of
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