What My Friends Are Up To? The Relationship between Social Media Usage and Fear of Missing Out among Undergraduates

Abstract

The social media platform is extremely popular among undergraduate students. Along with the increase in social media usage, phenomena such as the fear of missing out are also becoming more prevalent among this group. It is hypothesized that excessive usage of social media contributes to the psychological decline of undergraduate students. This study aimed to examine the relationship between social media usage and the fear of missing out among undergraduate students. In addition, this study also examined the level of social media usage and the fear of missing out. The study adopted a quantitative approach, specifically a correlational research design. Data were collected from 306 undergraduates at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia using the social networking time use scale and fear of missing out (FOMO) scale instruments to measure social media usage and fear of missing out, respectively. Descriptive analysis revealed that undergraduates have a moderate level of social media usage and a moderate level of fear of missing out. Meanwhile, the inferential analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between the usage of social media and the level of fear of missing out among undergraduates. In conclusion, the study results indicate that social media usage does influence the fear of missing out among undergraduates, although the coefficient was weak.