How Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) Shapes Student Life: Social Media, Well-Being, and GPA in Saudi Universities

Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is the anxiety that others are having rewarding experiences without you, often triggered by social media.

Studying FoMO across cultures is important because its effects—on well-being, behavior, and academic life—may vary depending on social values like individualism or collectivism.

Abd Ellatif Elsayed, H. " Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and Its Impact: Exploring Relationships with Social Media Use, Psychological Well-being, and Academic Performance among University. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1582572. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1582572Copy

Key Points

• Focus: This study explores how Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) influences social media use, life satisfaction, and academic performance among university students in Saudi Arabia.
• Method: Researchers used a cross-sectional, quantitative survey with 521 university students, analyzing data through correlation, regression, and moderation/mediation models.
• Findings: Higher FoMO is linked with greater social media use; surprisingly, FoMO was slightly associated with higher life satisfaction, and social media use was positively associated with GPA.
• Implications: These results challenge common assumptions by showing that social media use, when moderated by psychological and cultural factors, may benefit well-being and academic performance.

Rationale

Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is the feeling that others are having rewarding experiences that one is missing. It often leads to compulsive social media use, driven by the desire to stay socially connected and avoid exclusion.

Existing research links FoMO to negative outcomes like poor mental health, procrastination, and lower academic achievement. However, not all studies agree.

Some suggest FoMO may motivate students to engage more actively, while others argue its effects vary across cultures.

Most FoMO research has been conducted in Western settings, overlooking how cultural values—like collectivism in Arab societies—might affect its impact.

In these contexts, FoMO-driven behaviors may foster greater social engagement rather than harm well-being.

This study addresses key gaps:

• It investigates how FoMO, social media use, life satisfaction, and academic performance interact.
• It tests a theoretical model combining Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the I-PACE model, which consider personal needs and digital behaviors.
• It focuses on university students in Saudi Arabia, providing a culturally relevant perspective.

Understanding these dynamics can help educators, clinicians, and policymakers better support students navigating digital life.

Method

Design

Quantitative, cross-sectional correlational study using online self-report surveys analyzed with SPSS and PROCESS Macro.

Sample

• Size: 521 students
• Demographics:
  • Age: 18–25 years
  • Gender: 67.4% female
  • Nationality: 93.3% Saudi
  • Income: 70.4% from families earning under 5,000 SAR/month
  • Academic levels: Varied; most from Health and Science Colleges

Variables

• Independent Variable:
  Fear of Missing Out (FoMO)
• Dependent Variables:
  • Life Satisfaction
  • Academic Performance (GPA)
• Mediator/Moderator Variables:
  • Social Media Use
  • Life Satisfaction (also tested as a moderator)

Procedure

1. Students were recruited through university emails using a formal research support system.
2. Participants gave informed consent and completed an online survey (15–20 minutes).
3. The survey included demographic questions and standardized psychological measures.
4. Data analysis used correlation, regression, and mediation/moderation models with SPSS and PROCESS Macro.

Measures

• Fear of Missing Out Scale (FoMO): 10 items assessing anxiety about missing rewarding experiences. Higher scores = greater FoMO.
  Why it fits: It’s a well-validated tool for capturing FoMO across cultures, including Arabic-speaking populations.
• Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS): 5 items rating general life satisfaction on a 7-point scale.
  Why it fits: A reliable and validated measure of psychological well-being.
• Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS): 20 items adapted from the Internet Addiction Test, focusing on compulsive social media use.
  Why it fits: It directly captures problematic engagement with social media in an academic setting.
• Self-reported GPA: Academic performance on a 4-point scale.
  Why it fits: While self-reported, it correlates well with actual records in prior research.

Statistical Measures

• Regression Analysis: To assess direct relationships between variables.
• Mediation & Moderation (PROCESS Macro): To test indirect and conditional effects.
• Bootstrapping: To ensure reliable results, especially for GPA as an ordinal variable.
• Reliability (Cronbach’s alpha): All scales had high internal consistency (α > 0.84).

Results

• FoMO and Social Media Use:
  • Strong positive link (B = 0.834, R² = 0.633)
• FoMO and Life Satisfaction:
  • Small but positive correlation (B = 0.158, R² = 0.064)
• Social Media Use and GPA:
  • Positive correlation (ρ = 0.765)
• FoMO as a Mediator:
  • No significant mediation between social media use and life satisfaction
• Social Media Use as a Mediator:
  • No significant mediation between FoMO and GPA
• Moderation Effects:
  • FoMO moderated the link between social media use and life satisfaction
  • Social media use moderated the link between FoMO and GPA
  • Life satisfaction moderated the link between FoMO and social media use

Insight

This study offers several surprising insights:

• Social Media Isn’t Always Harmful:
  Despite fears about social media addiction, students with high FoMO reported greater life satisfaction when they were more socially active online. This suggests that in some cultural contexts, social media may support rather than harm psychological well-being.
• FoMO Can Be Motivational:
  Rather than only causing anxiety, FoMO may push students to engage more with peers and academic content online, especially when they already feel satisfied with life.
• Academic Performance May Benefit from Online Engagement:
  The positive link between social media use and GPA contradicts many past studies but makes sense if students use digital tools to stay organized or study collaboratively.
• Cultural Context Matters:
  In Saudi Arabia, social connectivity is highly valued. What might be distressing in an individualistic culture may feel rewarding or necessary in a collectivist one.

Clinical Implications

• For Counselors and Psychologists:
  • Don’t assume FoMO always signals distress; assess cultural and motivational context.
  • Teach students how to use social media actively and meaningfully to enhance well-being.
• For Educators:
  • Recognize that digital engagement can support academic performance when balanced well.
  • Offer digital literacy training to help students manage screen time and avoid distraction.
• For Policymakers:
  • Design interventions that respect cultural values around social engagement.
  • Promote apps or platforms that encourage constructive academic and social interactions.

Potential Challenges:

• Misinterpreting FoMO-driven behavior as purely maladaptive.
• Ensuring that students don’t rely solely on online interactions for validation.
• Measuring academic engagement beyond GPA to capture deeper impacts.

Strengths

• Culturally Grounded Sample:
  • Offers new insights into FoMO in an Arab context, where social norms differ from Western settings.
• Theoretical Integration:
  • Combines Self-Determination Theory and the I-PACE model to explain both motivation and behavior.
• Large, Diverse Sample:
  • Over 500 participants across academic levels and disciplines enhances credibility.
• Robust Analyses:
  • Uses advanced statistical techniques (PROCESS, bootstrapping) for moderation and mediation effects.

Limitations

• Cross-Sectional Design:
  • Prevents conclusions about cause and effect.
• Self-Report Bias:
  • GPA and social media use were self-reported, which may introduce inaccuracies.
• Context Specificity:
  • Findings may not generalize to non-Arab cultures or non-student populations.
• Unexplored Variables:
  • Personality traits, coping styles, or types of social media use (e.g., academic vs. entertainment) were not examined.

Socratic Questions

1. How might the cultural value of social connectedness influence how FoMO affects well-being?
2. Why do you think FoMO was positively linked with life satisfaction in this study, when past research often finds the opposite?
3. Could social media use ever be considered a form of adaptive coping? Why or why not?
4. What other variables (e.g., anxiety, personality, peer support) might moderate the link between FoMO and academic performance?
5. How would you design an intervention for students with high FoMO that balances digital connection with well-being?
6. Would these results likely be the same in a Western university setting? Why or why not?
7. How can educators leverage students’ social media engagement to improve academic outcomes?
8. If FoMO can be both harmful and helpful, what factors determine which effect it has?