The ‘Fear of Missing Out’ as EventHive’s Psychological Underpinning

“One recent rainy night, I curled up on my couch with popcorn and Netflix Instant, ready to spend a quiet night at home. The peace was sweet — while it lasted. Soon, my iPhone began flashing with notifications from a handful of social networking sites, each a beacon of information about what my friends were doing.

As the alerts came in, my mind began to race. Three friends, I learned, had arrived at a music venue near my apartment. But why? What was happening there? Then I saw pictures of other friends enjoying fancy milkshakes at a trendy restaurant. Suddenly, my simple domestic pleasures paled in comparison with the things I could be doing.” (Wortham, 2011)[1]

The scene that Jenna Wortham of the New York Times is describing is an instance of the popularly known ‘fear of missing out’ (FoMo) phenomenon. Through social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, Jenna is being made aware of the different activities her friends are doing at any given moment, generating a feeling of envy when comparing her scenario to that of her friends.

The fear of missing out effect has been described as a form of social anxiety, or pervasive apprehension, which is born out of a worry of missing out on rewarding experiences (Dossey, 2014).[2] Of course, the ‘fear of missing out’ has been around longer than social networking sites (SNS); however, SNS are arguably exacerbating this effect.

EventHive have identified the fear of missing out as a driving force behind its service. EventHive endeavours to use events to connect people and content together and instigate interaction In this blog post, we will explore the ‘science’ behind this popular term and consider how it relates to our event-based social networking service.

The “Science” Behind the Fear of Missing Out

The fear of missing out is not just a ‘popular’ term used to describe social network behaviour, but Andrew K. Pryzybylski et al (2013) undertook the first empirical study into the fear of missing out phenomenon. [3] Their study attempts to evidence how a fear of missing out is related to psychological needs of competence, autonomy and relatedness, and is a cause of ambivalence toward social media. Pryzybylski et al conducted a three-stage study looking at how FoMo correlates with different individual, demographic, emotional and behaviour traits, which were assessed through the development of a FoMo scale and self-evaluation surveys and online interviews.

Pryzybylski et al’s Research Findings

• The fear of missing out was an important factor in explaining social media engagement. Those who experienced higher FoMo tended to use social media immediately after waking and before going to sleep.
• FoMo was negatively associated with general mood and overall life satisfaction; social media is used to elevate negative social and emotional states.
• FoMo levels varied between demographics and FoMo levels were highest in the young people, especially young men.

Overall, Pryzybylski et al’s empirical study of the fear of missing out contributes to a growing acceptance that our ready access to social media is affecting human behaviour and it is a phenomenon that should be taken seriously and examined further.

FoMo, Social Networking Sites, and EventHive

The relationship between the fear of missing out and social networking sites is that SNS (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.) provide real time information of friend activities and “… reduce the ‘cost of admission’ for being socially engaged” (Pryzybylski et al, 2013, p. 1841). SNS allow one to remain connected and aware of one’s friends, without having to engage in any ‘real-time’ commitment. Facebook’s news feed, or Twitter’s homepage, are prime examples of this. Consequently based on Pryzybylski et al’s study, those who display the complimentary psychological traits, specifically low levels of satisfaction of the fundamental needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness, are especially susceptible to this effect.

As suggested in the introduction, EventHive recognises the importance of the FoMo effect to our service. EventHive actively attempts to make its users aware of ongoing events that are relevant to you. In EventHive’s event feed, recommended and popular events are channelled to the user. Users will be made aware of events that are nearby, or events that their friends are attending. Like Jenna’s anecdote quoted in the introduction, a user will be able to see that their friend is at a nearby music concert and see media content being shared about this concert, driving the fear of missing out.

Crucially, however, EventHive will reduce the steps required to react to, or overcome, the fear of missing out. Within our event feed, buttons are presented alongside any notification of an event or friend activity, allowing the user to do things such as ‘purchase ticket’ or ‘message friend’ in an attempt to encourage and instigate users to attend events and in turn share their event experiences.

Summary

The fear of missing out has an increasing presence in many people’s social media experiences. Empirical studies have begun to explore this phenomenon and have identified the emotional and psychological characteristics associated with this fear, as well begun to consider its effect upon social media usage.

EventHive also recognise the importance of FoMo in the use of its service. On one hand, we are fuelling the FoMo feeling with event feeds that tease the user about relevant events. On the other hand, however, we provide you with the mechanisms to easily overcome the fear of missing out and seize the opportunities presented to you.

References

[1] Wortham, J. 2011. Feel Like a Wallflower? Maybe It’s Your Facebook Wall. New York Times. Accessed March 24, 2015. Accessible at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/business/10ping.html?_r=0.

[2] Dossey, L. 2014. FOMO, Digital Demantia, and Our Dangerous Experiment. Explore 10:2, 69-73.

[3] Pryzybylski, A., Murayama, K. DeHaan, C. & Gladwell, V. 2013. Motivational, Emotional, and Behavioural Correlates of Fear of Missing Out. Computers in Human Behaviour 29:4, 1841-1848.