What is FOMO?
FOMO (fear of missing out) is the worry that others are doing something fun or worthwhile without you, which drives an urge to keep checking what everyone is up to. It isn't a clinical diagnosis. The term spread through marketing in the 2000s and became everyday slang with social media. Przybylski and colleagues (2013) built a scale to measure it and helped turn it into a research topic.
Why does FOMO happen?
Przybylski et al. (2013) found that people whose basic needs for competence, autonomy and connection were less satisfied reported more FOMO, and that higher FOMO went along with heavier social media use, lower mood and lower life satisfaction. Feeds show everyone's highlight reel, which makes social comparison effortless and can leave you with a sense of relative deprivation.
FOMO in investing and shopping
Jumping into a stock or crypto rally late because you're afraid of missing the gains is often called "FOMO buying." Like the bandwagon effect, it's also a marketing lever: "limited drop," "only 3 left" and countdown timers all play on it.
How to cope
- Set limits on social media: in a randomized study (Hunt et al., 2018), college students who cut use to 10 minutes per platform per day felt less lonely and depressed after three weeks.
- Turn off notifications and pick set times to check apps
- Track your own wins instead of other people's
- Try JOMO, the "joy of missing out," by choosing to unplug on purpose
FAQ
- Is FOMO a mental illness?
- No, it's a common feeling. If anxiety or low mood is getting in the way of daily life, it's worth talking to a professional.
- Is FOMO the same as social media addiction?
- They overlap but aren't the same. FOMO is the anxious feeling; research looks at it as one driver of problematic social media use.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-25
See also: Uses and Gratifications Theory
References
- 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.
- Hunt, M. G., Marx, R., Lipson, C., & Young, J. (2018). No more FOMO: Limiting social media decreases loneliness and depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 37(10), 751–768.
- Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140.