personality correlates of the fear of missing out (fomo) · personality correlates of the fear of...

Personality Correlates of the

Fear of Missing Out (FoMO)

ERROL O. RODRIGUEZ, Ph.D., CRC, MAC

ADELPHI UNIVERSITY

NAADAC Annual Conference 2017

Denver, CO

Meredith Musgnug, LMHC

Joanna Micek, LMHC

WellLife Network

Introduction

The internet and early

challenges with advancing

social media technology

Smartphone Use &

Problematic Use

What is the Fear of Missing Out

(FoMO)

FoMO & personality

Future directions

AOL, Netscape, & the Dial-Up

Internet

Internet

Social Connection

Communication

Stimulation Seeking

Services

The Original Devices

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Social Networking in the Millennium

AOL Facebook

Technological Advances

& New Challenges

By 1998 reports indicated problematic internet use similar to substances with some similar negative outcomes (Young, 1998)

Merit for Inclusion in DSM-V but… (Block, 2008)

Internet Addiction (IA, or, better, Internet Use Disorder) global prevalence rate hit 6%

Technological Advances

& New Challenges

Internet Gaming Disorder, behavioral disorders, & DSM V

…And now the Smartphone

How many times do Americans

check their cell phones daily?

8 billion

How often does the average user

check their cell phone per day?

46x

How long before you checked your

phone in this workshop?

Source: Time Magazine (Dec. 2015)

Source: photos.oliur.com

Smartphone Use Demographics

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Ph

on

e C

he

cks

pe

r D

ay

Age Group

Smartphone Use by Age

Source: Time, Dec. 2015

Smartphone Use Patterns

How long is the interval between waking up and looking at your phone?

•40% say within 5 minutes

•18% say immediately

Source: USA edition, Deloitte Global Mobile Consumer Survey

Smartphone Use Patterns

How long is the interval between looking at your phone for the last time and preparing to sleep?

•30% say 5 minutes before bed

•50% check in the middle of the night

Source: USA Edition, Deloitte Global Mobile Consumer Survey

Smartphone Use Patterns

What is the first thing accessed on a smartphone daily?

•35% Text Messages or IM

•22% Email

•12% Social Media

Source: USA edition, Deloitte Global Mobile Consumer Survey, June 2016

Smartphones, Social Media, &

Emerging Concerns

Twitter Instagram Facebook

Smartphones, Social Media,

& Emerging Concerns

Easy access to social media has

led to overuse for some users

Most studies on Facebook users

Some users experience difficulty controlling their time on

Facebook (Lee, Cheoung, & Thadani, 2012)

Facebook Studies

Facebook

Lower Self-

Esteem Lower Subjective Well-being

Psychological Well-being

Social & Academic

Anxiety

Depression

Source: Denti, et al. 2012. Koc & Gulyagci, 2013. Kross et al. 2013. Beard & Wolf, 2001.

Personality Factors & Facebook

Most studies since 2008 generally indicate strong

relationships exist between one’s personality and

overuse or problematic use of social media.

As the need for narcissistic validation increased

so did the amount of time spent on Facebook.

Lower self-esteem was moderately associated

with higher check-ins on Facebook.

Source: Mehdizadeh, 2010

Fear of

Missing Out

(FoMO)

A “pervasive

apprehension that

others might be having

rewarding experiences

from which one is

absent.” (Przybylski et al., 2013)

An intense desire to stay

continually connected

with what others are

doing.

Fear of

Missing Out

(FoMO)

Huffington Post

Time

Anxiety & Depression

Association of

America

The New York Times

FoMO Characteristics

Preoccupation with social media often to the exclusion of other

social interactions

Mood & Anxiety

Psychosocial issues

Loss of control

Increasing need to use social media

Withdrawal Effects

The FoMO Studies

Worthman (2011)

JWT Intelligence (2012)

Przybylski (2013)

Haeto (2013)

Alt (2017)

Research Questions

Is there a relationship between certain

personality traits and levels of FoMO?

Is there a relationship between the quality of

life a person experiences and their levels of

FoMO?

How well do the two measures predict FoMO?

Method: Procedures

114 undergraduate students

Demographic Form

Fear of Missing Out Scale (Przybylski et al., 2013)

Quality of Life (Burckhardt & Anderson, 2003)

Big Five Inventory (John &Srivastava,1999)

Method: Statistical Analyses

Assumption Tests

Correlations

Multiple Regression

Results: Demographics

72% Female

97% 18-21 years old

74% White

63% Freshman; 10% Seniors

Results: Personality & FoMO

People who reported a higher than average degree of FoMO also experienced a moderate level of Neurotic symptomatology

r = .336, n= 114, p < .01

Results: Personality & FoMO

People who tended to be less Agreeable reported a higher than average degree of FoMO

r = -.258, n= 114, p < .01

Results: Quality of Life & FoMO

Quality of life demonstrated a small, negative, significant relationship with FoMO.

r = -.192, n= 114, p < .05

Results: Predict FoMO

Big Five Personality Traits + Quality of Life did not predict FoMO

Results: Predict FoMO

Neuroticism did predict FoMO

F(2, 11)= 9.093, p < .05

R2 = .141

Secondary Correlations

Quality of life was moderately

associated with extraversion

r=.377, n=114, p < .01

Secondary Correlations

Agreeableness was moderately associated with Quality of life

r=.413, n=114, p < .01

Secondary Correlations

Conscientiousness was moderately & positively associated with Quality of life r=.374, n=114, p < .01

Neuroticism was moderately & negatively associated with Quality of life r= -.327, n=114, p < .01

Secondary Correlations

Conscientiousness was moderately & positively associated with agreeableness

r=.406, n=114, p < .01

Agreeableness had a small, negative association with neuroticism

r= -.292, n=114, p < .01

Secondary Correlations

Social Media

Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6

Facebook

Twitter .140

Tumbler .312** .090

Instagram .346** .647** .112

Buzzfeed .313** .017 .322** .341**

Other

Media

.288** .092 .147 .259** .365**

FoMO .199* .335** .014 .321** .142 .115

TABLE 1

Pearson Product-Moment Correlations Between Social Media & FoMO

Note. p < .05, * = p < .01,**

Discussion – The Take Away

Technological advances have made it

possible for us to stay connected regardless

of location and time BUT…

It also appears to attract some people with

heightened worries about staying connected

and “being in the know.”

Discussion- The Take Away

Neuroticism seems to play a key role in

understanding FoMO

Disagreeable young people tend to report

higher levels of FoMO

Quality of Life did not add to the

explanation of FoMO

Limitations

Not a full representative sample

FoMO scale

Quality of Life Scale

Future Directions

FoMO Phase Two

Personality Assessment Screener (PAS)

Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI)

Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-being

(RSPW)

Thank you!

Questions?

References

Beard, K. W., & Wolf, E. M. (2001). Modification in the proposed

diagnostic criteria for internet addiction. Cyberpsychology and

Behavior, 4, 377–383.

Block, J. (2008). Issues for DSM V: Internet addiction. American Journal of Psychiatry, 165, 3, 306-307.

Deloitte. (2016). Global mobile consumer survey: US edition. Retrieved

from Deloitte: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/technology-

media-and-telecommunications/articles/global-mobile-con.

Denti, L., Barbopoulos, I., Nilsson, I., Holmberg, L., Thulin, M., Wendeblad,

M., et al. (2012). Sweden’s largest Facebook study. Gothenburg:

Gothenburg Research Institute.

Eadicicco, L. (2015, Dec. 15). Americans check their phones 8 billion

times a day. Time. Retrieved from

http://time.com/4147614/smartphone-usage-us-2015/.

References

Koc, M. and Gulyagci, S. (2013). Facebook addiction among Turkish college students: the role of psychological health, demographic, and usage characteristics. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16, 279-284.

Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D. S., Lin, N., et al. (2013). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PLoS ONE, 8(8), e69841.

Lee, Z. W., Cheung, C. M., & Thadani, D. R. (2012, January). An investigation into the problematic use of Facebook. In System Science (HICSS), 2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 1768-1776). IEEE.

Mehdizadeh, S. (2010). Self-presentation 2.0: Narcissism and self-esteem on Facebook. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 13,4, 357-364.

Przybylski, A.K, Murayama, K., DeHaan, C.R.& Gladwell, V. (2013). Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out. Computers in Human Behavior, 29 (4), 1841–1848.

References

Young, K.S. (1998). Internet Addiction: The emergence of a new clinical

disorder. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 1,3, 237-244.