Fear of Being Ordinary: Development and Validation of a Questionnaire

Social media often presents staged portrayals of individuals’ lives, creating the impression that others have exciting and extraordinary experiences. This phenomenon can contribute to unrealistic social comparisons and concerns about living an ordinary life. The present study sought to develop a psychometrically robust measure of individual differences in fear of being ordinary (FoBO) using online survey data from a convenience sample of 622 participants (M = 21.88 years; 69% female). Furthermore, the study explored associations between FoBO, fear of missing out (FoMO), the Big Five personality dimensions, narcissistic traits, and levels of self-reported psychological distress. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed two correlated factors in the FoBO questionnaire: fear of insignificance (6 items) and social media comparisons (3 items). FoBO showed the strongest positive correlations with FoMO (r = 0.58), depression (r = 0.40), and neuroticism (r = 0.34). Daily time spent on social media was also positively associated with FoBO (r = 0.26). In conclusion, the brief FoBO questionnaire provides a useful tool for further research on the relationship between intense social media use and this specific fear, as well as for evaluating potential strategies to mitigate it.