FOMO’s Underlying Dimensions Are Differentially Related to Problematic Smartphone Use but Equally Related to Depression, Anxiety, Rumination, and Distress Tolerance

The fear of missing out (FOMO) involves two features: apprehension of missing out on rewarding experiences and a desire to stay constantly connected with one’s social network. FOMO is robustly related to problematic Internet use and negative affectivity. However, little research has examined whether these two FOMO dimensions show differential associations with problematic Internet use and negative affectivity. We recruited 388 university students (mean age = 20.06 years, SD = 4.18) at a Midwestern US university for a cross-sectional web survey. We administered self-report measures assessing FOMO, problematic smartphone use (PSU), problematic social media use (PSMU), and several negative affectivity measures. Using confirmatory factor analyses and correlational analyses, we found that in contrast to FOMO’s apprehension dimension, constant connection desire was significantly more highly associated with PSU severity. However, FOMO’s two factors were not differentially associated with PSMU or negative affectivity measures. Results support emerging findings demonstrating that FOMO’s two dimensions are equally related to depression and anxiety, extending this work to other types of negative affectivity (i.e., rumination and distress tolerance). We discuss how negative affectivity is an important aspect of FOMO, and we place our findings within the context of theory.