FoMO and Friends: Exploring the Inverse Relationship between Intensity of Meeting Friends and Closeness of Friendships and the Fear of Missing Out

Abstract

Previous studies trying to explain the fear of missing out (FoMO) mainly focused on the influence of psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness) in general, while the present study focused on the intensity of meeting friends and the closeness of the friendship separately. Furthermore, it was tested whether this relationship was affected by self-esteem. In this cross-sectional study, a sample (N= 2632) of 7 and 8 graders (M = 13.94, SD = 1.20) of two secondary schools in the Netherlands from ‘The Digital Youth Project’ (T3) was utilized. It was hypothesized that the intensity of meeting friends and the closeness of the friendship uniquely and interactively (through self-esteem) had a relationship with feelings of FoMO. The findings revealed an association between the closeness of the friendship on FoMO, also partly through self-esteem. However, the intensity of meeting friends did not affect FoMO, neither did the combined effect of the intensity of meeting friends and the closeness of the friendship. Feelings of FoMO are repressed when adolescents have close friendships, also in combination with high self-esteem. The results emphasize the importance of meaningful and intimate friendships, as well as high self-esteem, in adolescents. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.