In today’s digital world, the accessibility of social media makes it incredibly difficult to resist. While often said to connect millions around the globe, internet sites like Instagram, X, Snapchat, and many others employ manipulative and entrapping tactics that rely on the comparison between self and others encouraged by digital connection to attract and maintain users. From temporary posts, such as Instagram or Snapchat stories, to limited-time sales and offers, platforms across the internet utilize the same strategy: FOMO, or the “fear of missing out”.
Simply put, FOMO refers to the anxiety that others may be experiencing something rewarding from which one is absent (hence “missing out”), typically felt when observing those with seemingly more adventurous and successful lives [1]. This feeling is also characterized by a desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing [2].
Psychologically, FOMO is rooted in the basic human need for a sense of belonging and social connection. It is strongly associated with unmet psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness—the three core needs of Self-Determination Theory, or SDT, a framework for motivational psychology [2]. SDT proposes that these three needs are essential for well-being. When one is frustrated, whether by feeling powerless, ineffective, or excluded, they become more sensitive to what others are doing: the fear of missing out. This makes people pay more attention to their social interactions, leading people to frequently check social media to reassure themselves that they are not missing out on anything socially rewarding [3].
Neuroscientific research supports SDT’s proposals. Studies have found that individuals who experience strong fears of exclusion display differences in the precuneus, a brain region involved with social comparison and thinking about oneself, suggesting that they process social information through a perspective of self-referential social comparison [4]. Because of both this increased sensitivity and motivational deficits such as those suggested by SDT, individuals find themselves stuck in a loop in which perceived social gaps elicit anxiety, leading to digital engagement in an attempt to restore a sense of connection and control, which once again leads to anxiety. Over time, this cycle can cause problematic social media use (PSMU).
FOMO can be highly detrimental to students, particularly those who frequently experience it when studying or working. Studies have shown in teenagers, greater sensitivity to perceived losing out is associated with higher PSMU, or a greater tendency to use more social media apps [5]. These feelings are also associated with negative outcomes both daily and over the course of a semester, including sleep deprivation, stress, fatigue, and physical weaknesses [6]. Additionally, research has shown that users worried about being excluded are more likely to constantly check social media applications to be aware of messages and statuses. In the real world, this occurs through individuals repeatedly checking their mobile devices, even when engaged with friends in social environments, in a process also known as “phubbing” [7]. Coined by the McCann Australia agency, phubbing refers to the 21st-century trend of ignoring another individually physically present in favor of your phone [8]. In other words, adolescents anxious of being left out are more likely to overuse digital devices, leading them to phub their offline, real-world interaction partners [9].
The psychological and neurological mechanisms of FOMO also make individuals, especially teenagers, a prime target for marketing strategies and platform design. Social media platforms and marketers exploit users’ desire for social connection and their anxiety of missing out to their advantage, leveraging it to increase engagement and sales. Features such as disappearing stories, live notifications, algorithm-based curated feeds, and trending hashtags are not just added for fun; they are intentional additions aiming to encourage frequent use and constant attention. Continued exposure to these features, especially for young adolescents, reinforces a sense of both missing out and falling behind, keeping users returning to platforms repeatedly [7].
Commercial marketing strategies utilize similar principles by creating a feeling of scarcity and urgency. Flash sales, limited-time offers, countdown timers, and low-stock alerts capitalize on the human bias of loss aversion, when the same situation is considered worse if it is framed as loss rather than a gain [10]. Flash sales and limited-time offers make products or experiences feel fleeting: when one feels that something may soon be unobtainable and that they don’t have much time to get it, they fear missing out and are more inclined to purchase it. Countdown timers and low-stock alerts reinforce this feeling, serving as reminders of the scarcity and creating a sense of competition. When combined with social cues, such as indications of what others are purchasing, these tactics further amplify the effects of FOMO, prompting users to act quickly to avoid missing out, relying on impulse rather than reason.
Some of the largest drivers of FOMO have been social media cultures and trends. For instance, Instagram and Snapchat stories may use limited time appearances to encourage users to actively check in with the app more often. Other more impactful trends include drop culture, in which large companies manipulate consumer obsession by deliberately creating a sense of scarcity to raise demand for objects buyers don’t actually want. While traditional sales are based on selling as many units as possible, drop culture reverses this trend by creating a competitive environment with supplies at limited availability, turning the process of purchasing into a skill-based game and subsequently leading to users waking up at 3AM to spam the refresh button on their computer [11]. This is similar to aforementioned flash sales and low-stock alerts, which also attempt to create a sense of urgency and scarcity to convince buyers to rapidly buy before they have enough time to think about their decision. Some FOMO trends can even be predatory and detrimental. An example would be the growth of crypto and other digital currencies. Surveys have found that over 80% of crypto traders report making their decisions, such as which cryptos to purchase and invest in, strongly based on FOMO with 64% of those surveyed believing they have already missed out on large crypto gains [12]. However, crypto is highly susceptible to scams, such as rug pulls, which play off of the fears of crypto traders to convince users to invest before rapidly selling all currency, leading to the immediate value drop of the currency and financial ruin of investors.
In conclusion, FOMO’s pervasive nature demonstrates not only the complexity of human psychology and nature but also the tendency of digital environments to exploit said complexity. Rooted in human desires for social connection, autonomy, and competence, this sense of exclusion drives compulsive behavior such as frequent social media use and phubbing, which often have negative consequences on many parts of life. Platforms and marketers use these tendencies to their advantage, employing certain features to obtain engagement and sales.
Despite such negative trends, there are reasons to be optimistic: trends like the joy of missing out (JOMO) are a direct result of widescale FOMO trends. JOMO is a direct, positive, and intentional counterpart to FOMO that encourages healthy lifestyles and stepping away from the constant noise of social media. By turning off the notifications and choosing to join JOMO, one can learn to restore oneself, leading to improvements in mental health, focus, and personal relationships.