Fear of Missing out, Social Media Engagement, Smartphone Addiction and Distraction: Moderating Role of Self-Help Mobile Apps-based Interventions in the Youth

Smartphones offer high mobility and internet connectivity at the same time which has led to a substantial increase in the number of active social media users on the move, especially the ‘Millennials’. The excessive use of smartphone has been linked with several issues including mental well-being. Recently, different mobile applications have emerged to help users track their excessive use of smartphones and protect them from potential risks to mental health. This paper uses self-determination theory to examine the moderating role of such mobile applications (or self-help interventions) on inter-relationships between social media engagement, smartphone addiction and smartphone distractions. Survey responses from 284 college students reveal that mobile applications could prove to be quite effective self-help interventions that can help the young people in self-regulating their smartphone use. These results have substantial implications for designing effective mobile app-based interventions to save young people from potential risks to their mental health, productivity, and safety in performing their daily tasks. Future research directions have also been pointed out.