Acta Psychologica Sinica ©2021 Chinese Psychological Society

2021, Vol. 53, No. 3, 273290 https://dx.doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1041.2021.00273

The relationship between social media use and

fear of missing out: A meta-analysis
ZHANG Yali1, LI Sen1, YU Guoliang2
1
( School of Education, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China)
(2 Institute of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China)

Abstract
Social media use and fear of missing out are both common phenomena in our daily life. Numerous studies have discussed the re-
lationship between these two variables, but the results were mixed. Theoretically, there are two main arguments about the relationship
between social media use and fear of missing out. To be specific, the social cognitive theory of mass communication suggested that
there was a significant positive correlation between the two variables, while the digital goldilocks hypothesis argued that there may
be a U-shaped relationship instead of a significant linear correlation between the two. Empirically, the effect sizes of this relationship
reported in the existing literature were far from consistent, with r values ranging from 0 to 0.75. Therefore, this meta-analysis was
conducted to explore the strength and moderators of the relationship between social media use and fear of missing out.
Through literature retrieval, 65 studies consisting of 70 independent effect sizes that met the inclusion criteria were selected. In
addition, a random-effects model was selected to conduct the meta-analysis in Comprehensive Meta-Analysis 3.3 software, aiming at
testing our hypotheses. The heterogeneity test illustrated that there was significant heterogeneity among 70 independent effect sizes,
indicating that the random-effects model was appropriate for subsequent meta-analyses. Based on the funnel plot and Egger's test of
regression to the intercept, no significant publication bias was found in the included studies.
The main effect analysis indicated a significant positive correlation between social media use and fear of missing out (r = 0.38).
The moderation analyses revealed that the relationship between social media use and fear of missing out was moderated by the indi-
cator of social media use, as well as the type of social media. Specifically, compared with the frequency, the time as well as the inten-
sity of social media use, social media use addiction had the strongest correlation with fear of missing out; compared with Snapchat
and Facebook, Instagram had the strongest correlation with fear of missing out. Other moderators such as gender, age, measurement
tools of fear of missing out as well as individualism index did not moderate the relation between these two constructs. The results
supported the media effect model, which suggested that social media use, especially social media use addiction may be an important
risk factor for individuals’ fear of missing out. Longitudinal studies are needed in the future to explore the dynamic relationship be-
tween social media use and fear of missing out.
Key words fear of missing out, social media, social networking sites, meta-analysis

of research perspectives, researchers have recently focused on

1 Introduction
With the development of wireless internet technology and
the continuous upgrading of mobile devices, many social media
have emerged and gradually integrated into people’s lives. In
recent years, it has been gaining popularity among the public. A
survey showed that the usage rate of Wechat moments in China
alone has reached 85.1% (China Internet Network Information
Center, 2020). Social media not only provides great conven-
ience for people to build and expand social relationships, but
also provides an important window to learn about outside in-
formation (Dempsey et al., 2019; Zhang, Li et al., 2020).
However, a significant percentage of people who use social
media have experienced problematic social media use, which
poses a potential threat to their mental health (Rasmussen et al.,
2020). For example, research has found that teens who use
social media frequently have a higher risk of major depression
and suicidal behavior (Twenge et al., 2018). With the expansion
another negative effect of social media use, believing that so-
cial media use may induce fear of missing out (Brown & Kuss,
2020; Buglass et al., 2017; Hunt et al., 2018). Fear of Missing
Out (FoMO) is increasingly prevalent in the age of social me-
dia, with research showing that 66% of people experience it at
some point in their lives, and it’s most severe late in the day
and on weekends (Huguenel, 2017; Milyavskaya et al., 2018).
Therefore, the internal relationship between the two has be-
come the focus of many current studies, but the conclusions are
far from consistent. Some studies have found that there may be
a significant positive correlation between the two (Balta et al.,
2020; Tunc-aksan & Akbay, 2019), while others found no sig-
nificant correlation between them (Franchina et al., 2018;
Gezgin, 2018). In addition, the effect sizes of this relationship
reported in the existing literature were far from consistent, with
r values ranging from 0 to 0.75 (Franchina et al., 2018; Li,
2020; Pontes et al., 2018). Consequently, whether there is a

Received Date: August 11, 2020

This work was supported by Renmin University of China's top innovative talents cultivation funding program in 2019.
Corresponding author: YU Guoliang, E-mail: yugllxl@sina.com
The original article is in Chinese, translated by Lingocloud and proofread by Jin Juanjuan, Chen Yumeng and Zhang Yali. The Chinese version shall always
prevail in case of any discrepancy or inconsistency between the Chinese version and its English translation.
 Acta Psychologica Sinica
correlation between social media use and fear of missing out
and how strong it is, has become an urgent problem to be
solved. In order to solve the disputes in this field and draw
more general and accurate conclusions from a macro perspec-
tive., this study intends to use meta-analysis to explore the
overall correlation and possible moderating factors between
social media use and fear of missing out, so as to provide more
evidence for further research and reasonable guidance of social
media use, and to better pursue the advantages and avoid the
disadvantages.
1.1 Concept and measurement of social media use and
fear of missing out
Social media is an online platform that allows users to create,
share and exchange information, including text, images, audio
and video (Mieczkowski et al., 2020; Rozgonjuk et al., 2020).
Social media commonly used abroad include Facebook,
Instagram and Snapchat (Wegmann et al., 2017), while the ones
commonly used in China include Wechat, Weibo and QQ
(China Internet Network Information Center, 2020). Social
media use is a general term for activities based on social media,
which the researchers measured in terms of frequency, duration,
intensity and addiction, all of which can measure the degree of
social media use (Mieczkowski et al., 2020). The frequency of
social media use measures the daily use frequency of each so-
cial platform or social function, such as the number of likes and
retweets. A representative tool is the social media use scale
developed by Rogers and Barber (2019), which includes five
items. The duration of social media use measures the daily or
weekly use time of social media. A representative tool is the
Facebook usage scale developed by Buglass et al. (2017). The
intensity of social media use measures the degree of individu-
al’s emotional connection to social media or the degree to
which social media is integrated into their lives. Representative
tools include the Facebook use intensity scale developed by
Ellison et al. (2007), which has a single-dimensional structure
and contains eight questions, such as "Facebook has become a
part of my daily life". The social media use addiction measures
an individual’s dependence on social media. The representative
tool is the Bergen Facebook Addiction scale developed by
Andreasen et al. (2012), which has a single-dimensional con-
struct with six items, such as “If you stop using Facebook, you
will become restless”. In general, the current measurement
criteria for social media use are not unified, so the measure-
ment results are more diversified and the measurement tools are
scattered, among which social media use intensity and social
media use addiction are widely used in present research.
Fear of missing out refers to a diffuse compound emotion
dominated by anxiety and accompanied by negative feelings
such as fear, loss, worry and depression resulting from fear of
missing some possible important information or novel activities
(Przybylski et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2020). It includes not
only the worry and fear before the loss, but also the anxiety and
regret after the loss; not only the fear of missing important
information, but also the fear of missing important social activ-
ities and experiences; not only the fear of missing other peo-
ple's novel or important events, but also fear of missing the
positive experiences you wish to have. Strong expectation to
learn about the experience of others, frequent participation in
social activities, continued attention to the dynamic information
of the outside world are typical manifestations of fear of miss-
ing out. (Chai et al., 2018). The most commonly used meas-
urement is the Fear of Missing Out scale (FoMOs-P) developed
by Przybylski et al (2013), which is a single-dimensional
structure with 10 items. The scale was formally revised in Chi-
na by Li et al. (2019a). After deleting two items, it was revised
to a two-dimensional scale, that included fear of missing in-
formation and fear of missing situation (FoMOs-L). The structure
of FoMOs-P is relatively simple, and the content covered may
not be comprehensive. For this reason, Wegmann et al. (2017)
developed a scale of Fear of Missing scale (FoMOs-W) com-
bined with online situations, with a total of 12 items, including
two factors of state and trait fear of missing out. Xiao and Liu
(2019) revised the Chinese version of the scale, and finally
deleted one item in the sub-dimension of trait fear of missing out,
forming a two-dimensional structure with 11 items. In addition,
Song et al. (2017) also developed a scale of fear of missing out
based on the mobile social media environment, with a total of
16 items, including psychological motivation, cognitive moti-
vation, behavioral performance and emotional dependence.
Recently, Zhang et al. (2020) also developed the Fear of Missing
Out scale (FoMOs-Z) based on the perspective of self-concept,
which includes two dimensions of personal and public fear of
missing out, including nine items. In general, the most fre-
quently used measure in current research is FoMOs-P. Although
methods to measure the fear of missing out are increasing and
are increasingly diversified, most of the scales except
FoMOs-Z are revised, deleted or enriched based on FoMOs-P.
1.2 Relationship between social media use and fear of
missing out
There are two main arguments about the relationship be-
tween social media use and fear of missing out: the first sug-
gested that there was a significant positive correlation between
the two variables, while the second argued that there may be a
U-shaped relationship instead of a significant linear correlation
between the two.
The first viewpoint suggested that social media use was pos-
itively correlated with fear of missing out. According to the
social cognitive theory of mass communication (Bandura, 2001;
Valkenburg et al., 2016), social media use may reinforce certain
cognitive, emotional, attitudinal and behavioral aspects of the
user. This view emphasizes that social media use may increase
the level of individual’s fear of missing out (Slater, 2007;
Valkenburg et al., 2016). The amount of information presented
on social media increases the visibility of individuals’ missed
activities. In the process of using it, the individual will experi-
ence the feeling of tension, anxiety and being excluded because
they learn about a lot of things or activities that they were not
involved in, such sense of relative deprivation leads to the
emergence of fear of missing out (Baker et al. 2016; Buglass et
al. 2017; Hunt et al. 2018). Moreover, because of the ostenta-
tious and exaggerated nature of the information presented on
social networking sites, viewing such information also increas-
es the likelihood of social comparisons, making them think that
other people’s experiences are better than their own, and lead-
ing to fear of missing out (Bloemen & Coninck, 2020; Burnell
et al., 2019; Yin, Wang, et al., 2019). In addition, individuals’
online communication, entertainment and aimless wandering
on social media will take up a lot of time, which will crowd out
their opportunities and time for offline social interaction and
interpersonal interactions, and thus make them miss more
meaningful experiences (Alt, 2018; Beyens et al., 2016;
Duvenage et al., 2020). More importantly, the information dis-
 ZHANG Yali et al.: The relationship between social media use and fear of missing out: A meta-analysis
played on the virtual social platform is only a small part of real
life, and can not replace the personal experience of individuals
in real life. Therefore, when individuals spend their time online,
they will worry more about whether they have missed some
important activities or information in the real life, and eventu-
ally experienced a sense of fear of missing out (Bruggeman et
al., 2019; Coyne et al., 2020; Li & Ma, 2019). Both
cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have found that social
media use did positively predict fear of missing out (Buglass et
al., 2017; Li & Ma, 2019; Yin, Wang, et al., 2019).
The other view argued that there may be a U-shaped rela-
tionship instead of a significant linear correlation between so-
cial media use and fear of missing out. According to the digital
goldilocks hypothesis, the use of social media has become a
trend in the age of digital media. Only by following the trend
and properly participating in and using social media can the
individual’s psychological and social adaptation be enhanced.
On the contrary, both overuse and rejection of social media will
have a negative impact on individual's psychosocial adaptation
(Przybylski & Weinstein, 2017). Excessive users of social me-
dia may increase their own gestalt tendencies, which can en-
courage individuals to keep track of new information or events,
and make individuals more afraid of missing out something
important or exciting (Yin, Wang, et al., 2019). Users who use
too little social media may also be suspicious and worried be-
cause they have difficulty getting timely and useful information
about the activities of others (Lai et al., 2016). Only users who
use social media in moderation can properly plan their online
and offline activities, view and pay attention to the outside
world rationally, and reduce the occurrence of fear of missing
out. Presently, there is no direct evidence supporting the
U-shaped relationship between social media use and fear of
missing out, but some studies have found no significant linear
correlation between social media use and fear of missing out
(Bailey et al., 2018; Franchina et al., 2018; Gezgin, 2018; Traş
& Öztemel, 2019).
To sum up, the social cognitive theory of mass communica-
tion is not only supported by the evidence of cross-sectional
and longitudinal studies, but also has a wide range of applica-
bility in the field of digital media use and mental health, and
has been supported by numerous studies (Faelens et al., 2021;
Jagtiani et al., 2019; Keles et al., 2020). The digital goldilocks
hypothesis, a new viewpoint proposed in recent years, has been
supported only in the relationship between digital media use
and well-being (Przybylski&Weinstein,2017), but not in the
relationship between digital media use and depression (Hough-
ton et al., 2018), and its applicability needs to be further veri-
fied. Therefore, this study proposes hypothesis 1: there is a
certain degree of positive correlation between social media use
and fear of missing out.
1.3 Moderating variables in the relationship between so-
cial media use and fear of missing out
Gender may influence the relationship between social media
use and fear of missing out. First, males and females have dif-
ferent preferences for media use. Males preferred game apps,
while females preferred social apps (Balta et al., 2020; Casale
et al., 2018; Coyne et al., 2020). From the perspective of expo-
sure theory (Brown & Bobkowski, 2011), because females have
a higher level of social media use, they are more likely to learn
about activities that experienced by others but not by them-
selves, and will have more worries and fears about the experi-
ences and information they have missed (Bloemen & Coninck,
2020; Zhang, Jiang, et al., 2019). In addition, previous meta-
analysis found that males have stronger emotional regulation
ability than females (He et al., 2019). In the face of conspicu-
ous information and wonderful experiences presented by others
on social media, the male is more likely to be calm and opti-
mistic and have lower level of fear of missing out, while female
students are more likely to show worry and unease and have a
higher level of fear of missing out (Li & Ma, 2019). In conclu-
sion, this study proposes hypothesis 2: Gender may moderate
the relationship between social media use and fear of missing
out, and the correlation between the two is stronger among
women.
Age may also have an impact on the relationship between
social media use and fear of missing out. First, in terms of the
accessibility of social media, the registration and use of social
media by teenagers are subject to a certain degree of restraint
and regulation (Traş & Öztemel, 2019), while adults are not
subject to such restrictions, they are better able to read large
amounts of information on social media and generate a psy-
chological reaction of fear of missing out (Huguenel, 2017; Liu,
Ainsworth et al., 2016). In addition, in terms of the scope of
social interaction, adults tend to be more diverse than teens,
and adult friends tend to be more heterogeneous (different liv-
ing situations and conditions), while teens tend to be more ho-
mogeneous (similar learning environments). This makes adults
browse more information posted by others when using social
media, and more likely to learn about experiences they have not
experienced, thus creating more fear of missing out (Baker et
al., 2016; Buglass et al., 2017). In conclusion, this study puts
forward hypothesis 3: the age of the paticipants may moderate
the relationship between social media use and fear of missing
out, and the older the age, the stronger the correlation between
the two.
The indicators of social media use may also influence the
relationship between social media use and fear of missing out.
The criteria for measuring social media usage were different.
The frequency, duration and intensity of social media use is a
reflection of the daily use habits of social media (Buglass et al.,
2017; Ellison et al., 2007). Social media use addiction
measures the symptomatology of social media overuse using
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders
(DSM-IV) criteria for substance and behavior addiction
(Andreassen et al., 2012; Monacis et al., 2017), which reflects
the degree of individual dependence on social media, so this
indicator may have a greater impact on fear of missing out.
Similar meta-analysis has found that there are significant dif-
ferences in the relationship between different indicators of so-
cial media use and depression, and the relationship between
social media use addiction and depression is stronger than that
between the intensity and frequency of social media use (Liu et
al., 2018). In summary, this study puts forward hypothesis 4:
The indicators of social media use can moderate the relation-
ship between social media use and fear of missing out.
The measurement tools of fear of missing out may also in-
fluence the relationship between social media use and fear of
missing out. First, in terms of the number of items, some Chi-
nese version of the revised scale, such as FoMOs-L, were re-
vised on the basis of the full version of the scale ——FoMOs-P.
In the process of revision, some items that did not meet the
measurement criteria have been deleted, which may lead to the
 Acta Psychologica Sinica
loss of some information in the measurement process, thus
resulting in the difference of measurement results. Secondly, in
terms of the questionnaire structure, FoMOs-P is a sin-
gle-dimensional structure. Other questionnaires, such as
FoMOs-W, have a two-dimensional structure that measures not
only the susceptibility to fear of missing out, but also the state
of fear of missing out in online situations, which is more com-
prehensive and may lead to differences in the results. In con-
clusion, this study proposes hypothesis 5: the measurement
tools can moderate the relationship between social media use
and fear of missing out.
The type of social media may also influence the relationship
between social media use and fear of missing out. Media rich-
ness theory suggests that there are differences in the richness of
information presented by different media and in the effects on
individuals when being used (Daft & Lengel, 1986; Liu,
Baumeister, et al., 2019). Image-centric social platforms (such
as Instagram) may reflect more colorful, intuitive, and visual
information than text-centric social platforms (such as Twitter),
and may stimulate more upward social comparisons (Burnell et
al., 2019; Franchina et al., 2018; Marengo et al., 2018), as a
result, individuals using such social media may experience
higher levels of fear of missing out. An empirical study also
found that the correlation between Snapchat use and fear of
missing out was 0.17, while the correlation between Twitter use
and fear of missing out was 0.06, there is a significant differ-
ence between the two (Franchina et al., 2018). Similarly, an
authoritative report from the UK showed that the impact of
social media on well-being and mental health were varies.
Instagram ranked first in its negative impact on individual
well-being, followed by Snapchat (Royal Society for Public
Health, 2017). In conclusion, this study proposes hypothesis 6:
social media types can moderate the relationship between so-
cial media use and fear of missing out.
The relationship between social media use and fear of miss-
ing out may also be influenced by cultural background. Collec-
tivism culture emphasizes interdependence, and individuals are
more influenced by their social environment, which makes
them more aware of what others are doing when they use social
media. When you see a friend engaged in an activity that you
weren’t engaging in, you are more likely to experience the
feeling of exclusion, and therefore feel nervous and uneasy, be
afraid of missing out on some important information and won-
derful experience (Alt, 2018; Huguenel, 2017). Cultures with
higher individualistic tendencies emphasize independence and
autonomy, and individuals are less affected by their social en-
vironment and therefore experience less fear of missing out
when using social media (Yin, de Vries et al., 2019). A similar
meta-analysis found that social media use was more strongly
associated with self-esteem in collectivism cultures than in
individualistic cultures (Liu & Baumeister, 2016). In summary,
this study puts forward hypothesis 7: cultural background can
moderate the relationship between social media use and fear of
missing out, and the higher the individualistic tendency, the
weaker the correlation between the two.
In short, the relationship between social media use and fear
of missing out is not only controversial in theory, but also in-
consistent in the results of empirical studies. Given that both of
them are relatively common in real life and will have an im-
portant impact on people's work and life, the relationship be-
tween the two has important reference value for reasonable
guidance of social media use and education correction or
community intervention of fear of missing out. However, no
studies have been done to clarify this issue from a macro and
integrative perspective, so it is necessary to estimate the
strength of correlation between social media use and fear of
missing out and the the underlying moderate factors through
meta-analysis. It is not only theoretically helpful to clarify the
controversy between the social cognitive theory of mass com-
munication and the digital goldilocks hypothesis, but also a
useful supplement to the research in the field of digital media
use and mental health. In practice, it also helps to reveal the
specific conditions under which social media use is associated
with fear of missing out, and provides more appropriate life
advice and counseling programs for heavy social media users
and people with fear of missing out.
2 Method
2.1 Literature search and screening
Since fear of missing out is a relatively recent phenomenon,
the number of studies is generally moderate, so search strate-
gies only limit this variable and do not limit social media use,
in order to more fully incorporate the literature on the relation-
ship between the two. First of all, in the Chinese database
(China National Knowledge Infrastructure Journal and Degree
Thesis Database, Wanfang Journal and Degree Thesis Database
and CQVIP Journal Database), search for articles with the
keywords “错失焦虑” or “错失恐惧” or “遗漏焦虑”in the title
or abstract. Second, the foreign language database (Web of
Science Core Collection, ElsevierSD, Springer Online Journals,
MEDLINE, EBSCO-ERIC, Sage Online Journals, Scopus,
psycINFO, PsycArticles, and ProQuest Dissertations and The-
ses) was used to search for literatures containing the keywords
“Fear of Missing out” or “Fomo”. The search deadline was
January 2020 and a total of 977 literatures were obtained. In
addition, in order to avoid omissions, the literature is supple-
mented by citations and literature updates during literature
reading. The latest literature update was in December 2020.
Literature was imported using Endnote X9 and screened
according to the following criteria: (1) Empirical studies were
required, and theoretical and qualitative studies were excluded;
(2) Both social media use and fear of missing out were meas-
ured, and the correlation coefficient (r) or the value of F, t, χ2
or β in linear regression of one variable were reported. Partial
correlation coefficients and other types of correlation coeffi-
cients (such as rank correlation) would be excluded. (3) the
selected studies are not limited to journal papers, but also in-
clude dissertations and theses, conference papers, as well as
book chapters (4) For repeated publication of data, only one
report with more comprehensive contents will be selected; (5)
The paticipants is the general population, and special
paticipants such as poor students and left-behind children will
be excluded. (6) Sample size was clear. The literature screening
process is shown in Figure 1.
2.2 Coding and quality evaluation
Each study was coded according to the following character-
istics: First author, year of publication, country of paticipants,
individualism index, average age, correlation coefficient, effec-
tive population, male ratio, measurement tool of fear of missing
out, social media type, indicator of social media use, and liter-
ature quality assessment index (see Table 1). In coding, the
 ZHANG Yali et al.: The relationship between social media use and fear of missing out: A meta-analysis

Figure 1. Flow chart of the search and selection strategy.

following principles are followed: (1) The extraction of effect
size is based on independent samples, and each independent
sample was coded once. (2) If the effect sizes were reported
separately according to the characteristics of the paticipants
(e.g., male/female), they were coded separately; (3) If the study
is longitudinal, the effect size was coded according to the re-
sults of the first measurement. (4) If multiple variables were
measured in the same study, each variable was coded separately.
For the input of the correlation coefficient, if the study did
not report the correlation coefficient, but reported the t value of
the independent sample t test, the F value of the single factor
analysis of variance, the χ2 value of the independence test and
the β value of the univariate linear regression analysis, then
t2 F The quality of the original study was evaluated from the as-
through the corresponding formula[ r  ; r ;
t  df
2
F  dfe
2
r ; r = β × 0.98 + 0.05 (β ≥ 0); r = β × 0.98 0.05
 N
2
(β < 0) (β∈(–0.5, 0.5))], which is converted to r value before
coding (Card, 2012; Peterson & Brown, 2005). Furthermore, if
the original literature only reported the Pearson correlation
matrix between social media use and the sub-dimensions of fear
of missing out, the correlation coefficient between social media
use and fear of missing out was encoded using the Hunter and
Schmidt (2004) formula rxy 
r r xi y j
.
n  n(n  1)rxi x j m  m(m  1)ryi y j
The coding was performed independently by two evaluators,
and the final coding consistency was 94%. If there was incon-
sistent data information in the two codes, the final coding
scheme was finalized after consulting the original literature.
The detailed information finally included in the literature can
be obtained openly (https://osf.io/xhjv4/?view_only=
30148116074a44e8baf69a7d9a83fc47).
pects of sampling method, data efficiency, grade of publication
and internal consistency reliability of measurement tools by
using the literature quality evaluation scale about meta-analysis
of correlation compiled by Zhang, Li and Yu. (2019). The total
evaluation score of each article in this study ranged from 0 to
10. The higher the score, the better the quality of the literature
(Table 1).

Table 1
Basic information of studies included in the meta-analysis
First Publication Individualism Mean Sample Male fear of missing social media social media use Quality of
Country r
author year Index age size ratio out measure type indicator literature
Przybylski 2013 UK 89 43.21 0.40 2079 0.50 FoMOs-P General Intensity 8
Wegmann 2017 ¬ 23.43 0.39 270 0.30 FoMOs-W General Addiction 6
Błachnio 2018 Poland 60 22.22 0.45 360 0.36 FoMOs-P Facebook Addiction 6
Tomczyk 2018 BA 22 13.30 0.54 717 0.53 other General Intensity 6
2018 BA 22 13.30 0.37 717 0.53 other General other 6
2018 BA 22 13.30 0.53 717 0.53 other General Addiction 5
2018 BA 22 13.30 0.56 717 0.53 other General Addiction 5
Chai 2019 China 20 14.03 0.21 1319 0.47 other Qzone Intensity 9
Dempsey 2019 USA 91 20.03 0.32 291 0.42 FoMOs-P Facebook Addiction 9
2019 USA 91 20.03 0.19 291 0.42 FoMOs-P Facebook Frequency 9
Alt 2018 Israel 54 24.10 0.56 290 0.15 other General other 6
 Acta Psychologica Sinica

Continued table 1
First Publication Individualism Mean Sample Male fear of missing social media social media use Quality of
Country r
author year Index age size ratio out measure type indicator literature
Balta 2020 Turkey 37 17.15 0.57 423 0.47 FoMOs-W Instagram Addiction 7
Liu 2020 China 20 18.83 0.40 465 0.31 FoMOs-P General Addiction 7
Riordan 2020 NZL 79 19.60 0.28 330 0.26 FoMOs-P Facebook Intensity 7
2020 NZL 79 19.60 0.21 330 0.26 other Facebook Intensity 6
2020 NZL 79 20.90 0.31 90 0.14 FoMOs-P Facebook Intensity 7
2020 NZL 79 20.90 0.29 90 0.14 other Facebook Intensity 6
Yin 2019 China 20 16.80 0.41 704 0.43 FoMOs-P General Addiction 6
Baker 2016 USA 91 21.98 0.30 386 0.19 FoMOs-P General Duration 6
Sharma 2015 USA 91 ¬ 0.63 129 0.47 other Facebook Addiction 1
2015 USA 91 20.79 0.40 398 0.49 other Facebook Addiction 4
Perrone 2016 USA 91 ¬ 0.14 961 0.55 FoMOs-P General Intensity 3
Chambers 2018 USA 91 23.57 0.20 152 0.30 FoMOs-P General Intensity 5
2018 USA 91 23.57 0.20 152 0.30 FoMOs-P General other 5
Gezgin 2018 Turkey 37 16.22 0.44 161 0.58 FoMOs-P General Duration 5
2018 Turkey 37 16.22 −0.14 161 0.58 FoMOs-P General Frequency 5
Franchina 2018 Belgium 75 14.87 0.16 2663 0.43 other Facebook Frequency 6
2018 Belgium 75 14.87 0.17 2663 0.43 other Snapchat Frequency 6
2018 Belgium 75 14.87 0.00 2663 0.43 other You Tube Frequency 6
2018 Belgium 75 14.87 0.06 2663 0.43 other Twitter Frequency 6
Casale 2020 Italy 76 23.02 0.49 239 0.40 FoMOs-P General Addiction 7
Tunc-Aksan 2019 Turkey 37 ¬ 0.43 296 0.54 FoMOs-P General Addiction 5
Beyens 2016 Belgium 75 16.41 0.50 402 0.43 other Facebook Intensity 6
Barry 2017 USA 91 15.27 0.35 113 0.49 FoMOs-P General Frequency 5
Blackwell 2017 USA 91 22.15 0.56 207 0.24 FoMOs-P General Addiction 7
2017 USA 91 22.15 0.36 207 0.24 FoMOs-P General Intensity 7
Buglass 2017 UK 89 ¬ 0.25 489 0.51 FoMOs-P Facebook Duration 8
Stead 2017 UK 89 ¬ 0.47 495 0.31 FoMOs-P General Addiction 9
Bailey 2018 ¬ ¬ 0.01 296 0.33 other General other 7
Casale 2018 Italy 76 ¬ 0.44 263 1.00 FoMOs-P General Addiction 3
2018 Italy 76 ¬ 0.47 316 0.00 FoMOs-P General Addiction 3
Scott 2018 UK 89 14.00 0.36 101 0.44 FoMOs-P General other 9
Burnell 2019 USA 91 ¬ 0.17 717 0.31 FoMOs-P General other 8
Rogers 2019 USA 91 19.81 0.21 97 0.38 FoMOs-P General Frequency 8
Reer 2019 Germany 67 27.65 0.30 1865 0.49 FoMOs-P General Intensity 9
Cargill 2019 UK 89 33.01 0.57 224 0.12 FoMOs-P General Addiction 1
Fuster 2017 ¬ 15.47 0.32 5280 0.24 FoMOs-P General Intensity 7
2017 ¬ ¬ 15.47 0.43 5280 0.24 FoMOs-P General Intensity 7
Can 2019 Turkey 37 33.65 0.43 371 0.40 FoMOs-P Facebook Addiction 2
2019 Turkey 37 33.65 0.24 371 0.40 FoMOs-P General Duration 3
Pontes 2018 ¬ ¬ ¬ 0.68 511 0.35 FoMOs-P General Addiction 9
Traş 2019 Turkey 37 21.34 0.27 608 0.28 FoMOs-P Facebook Intensity 3
2019 Turkey 37 21.34 0.04 608 0.28 FoMOs-P Facebook Duration 2
Vallejos-Flores 2018 Peru 16 20.74 0.60 510 0.46 FoMOs-P Facebook Addiction 4
Reyes Philip-
2018 32 25.22 0.41 1060 0.39 FoMOs-P General Duration 5
pines
Huguenel 2017 USA 91 18.93 0.30 296 0.15 FoMOs-P Facebook Intensity 7
2017 USA 91 18.93 0.17 296 0.15 FoMOs-P General Duration 6
 ZHANG Yali et al.: The relationship between social media use and fear of missing out: A meta-analysis

Continued table 1
First Publication Individualism Mean Sample Male fear of missing social media social media use Quality of
Country r
author year Index age size ratio out measure type indicator literature
Li 2019 China 20 21.00 0.25 443 0.42 other General other 7
Li 2019a China 20 22.00 0.31 228 0.43 FoMOs-L General Intensity 5
Ma 2019 China 20 18.80 0.42 493 0.32 FoMOs-P General Addiction 10

2019 China 20 18.80 0.29 493 0.32 FoMOs-P General Intensity 9

Li 2019b China 20 ¬ 0.23 584 0.46 FoMOs-L General other 6
Zhang 2019 China 20 19.56 0.40 526 0.48 FoMOs-P General Addiction 9
Xiao 2019 China 20 21.90 0.40 546 0.34 FoMOs-W General Intensity 6
Jiang 2018 China 20 ¬ 0.42 1804 0.44 other General Addiction 9
Wei 2018 China 20 ¬ 0.43 526 1.00 FoMOs-P General Addiction 1

2018 China 20 ¬ 0.17 636 0.00 FoMOs-P General Addiction 1

Zhang 2020 China 20 21.63 0.33 466 0.47 FoMOs-L General Addiction 8
Wang 2020 China 20 14.71 0.35 1238 0.45 FoMOs-P General Addiction 7
Ren 2019 China 20 ¬ 0.17 427 0.50 other General Intensity 8
Li 2020 China 20 20.10 0.40 2017 0.50 FoMOs-W General Intensity 8
Fang 2020 China 20 19.60 0.45 501 0.29 FoMOs-P General Addiction 6
Moore 2020 USA 91 ¬ 0.43 156 0.44 FoMOs-P General Addiction 7
Sheldon 2020 USA 91 23.35 0.34 337 0.42 FoMOs-P Facebook Addiction 5

2020 USA 91 23.35 0.43 337 0.42 FoMOs-P Instagram Addiction 5

2020 USA 91 23.35 0.40 337 0.42 FoMOs-P Snapchat Addiction 5

Müller 2020 Germany 67 22.00 0.50 226 0.40 other General Addiction 7
Rozgonjuk 2020 ¬ ¬ 34.49 0.46 335 0.42 FoMOs-P Instagram Addiction 4

2020 ¬ ¬ 29.04 0.26 136 0.38 FoMOs-P Snapchat Addiction 4

Fabris 2020 Italy 76 13.50 0.48 472 0.50 FoMOs-P General Addiction 6
Lai 2016 Italy 76 24.1 0.60 20 0.55 FoMOs-P General Intensity 3
Li 2020 China 20 15.02 0.75 1081 0.49 FoMOs-L General Addiction 7
Hu 2020 China 20 0.42 1092 0.33 FoMOs-L General Addiction 5
Gao 2019 China 20 16.4 0.28 465 0.57 FoMOs-P General other 5
Lee 2020 China 20 36.1 0.16 259 ¬ other General Duration 8
Classen 2020 NZL 79 ¬ 0.33 218 0.24 FoMOs-P General Intensity 7
Öztürk 2020 Turkey 37 21.07 0.23 141 0.45 FoMOs-P General other 2

2020 Turkey 37 21.07 0.27 141 0.45 FoMOs-P General other 3

Munawaroh 2019 Indonesia 14 ¬ 0.57 106 0.00 FoMOs-P Instagram Addiction 1
Zhang 2020 USA 91 ¬ 0.27 236 ¬ other General Intensity 6

Note. For the corresponding national individualism index, see https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/. The “Other” in the column of fear of
missing out measure means tools that are different from the existing classification tools, but each one was used less than 3 times. The “General” in the social
media type column indicates that the original study did not distinguish between specific social media. The “Other” in the social media use indicator column
means indicators that are different from the existing classification indicators, but each one was used less than three times (such as classroom social media use,
bedtime social media use, passive social media use, etc.).

2.3 Publication bias control and test
Publication bias refers to the fact that significant results are
more likely to be published (Rothstein et al., 2005) so that pub-
lished literature does not fully represent the totality of research
done in the field. This study included not only the published
journals and conference papers, but also the unpublished dis-
sertations and theses, which controlled the publication bias to
some extent. In addition, in order to ensure the reliability of the
results of the meta-analysis, funnel plot, Egger’s regression
method and trim and fill method were also used to assess for
publication bias. For funnel plots, if the graph presents a sym-
metrical inverted funnel shape, the publication bias is small and
has little influence on the meta-analysis results (Light &
Pillemer, 1984). For Egger’s regression, if the linear regression
results are not significant, the publication bias is small (Egger
et al., 1984). The trim and fill method were based on the as-
 Acta Psychologica Sinica
sumption that publication bias results in asymmetry of funnel
plots. The effect size would be re-estimated by iterative method
after a part of the study is trimmed. If the effect size had little
difference before and after trimming, indicating that the publi-
cation bias was small (Rothstein et al., 2005).
2.4 Model selection
At present, there are two main methods to calculate the ef-
fect size: fixed effect model and random effect model. The
former assumes that the actual effect of different studies is the
same, and the difference between the results is caused by ran-
dom error. The latter assumes that the actual effects of different
studies may be different, and that different results are influ-
enced not only by random errors but also by different sample
characteristics (Schmidt et al., 2009). Based on literature re-
view, this study suggests that social media use indicators and
other factors may influence the relationship between social
media use and fear of missing out, so we use a random effects
model to estimate the relationship. In addition, this study also
verified the suitability of random effects model selection by
heterogeneity test, mainly looking at the significance of Q test
results and I2 value. If the Q test result is significant or the I2
value is higher than 75%, the random effects model is more
appropriate, otherwise, the fixed effects model is more appro-
priate (Huedo-medina et al., 2003).
2.5 Data processing
The Pearson correlation coefficient r was used as the effect
size in this study. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Version 3.3
(Borenstein et al., 2014) was used to test the main effects and
moderating effects of meta-analysis. In the process of estimat-
ing the average effect size, in order to guarantee the independ-
ence of the effect value, when there are multiple outcomes in
one study, the combination function of the average effect size
in CMA 3.3 software was used to merge the multiple outcomes
and then estimate the overall effect size. The moderating effect
analysis was performed using a meta-regression analysis com-
bined with a maximum likelihood test to determine whether the
results were significant. The moderate variables involved in
this study are: (1) Continuous moderate variables. This includ-
ed the mean age of the participants in each study, the proportion
of male in each study, and the index of individualism in the
countries which the participants lived. (2) Categorical moderate
variables. It includes indicators of social media use (combined
with the name and content of the measuring tool to categorize
addiction, intensity, duration, and frequency). Social media
types (Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram based on purpose and
original research features). Fear of missing out measurement
tools (FoMOs-P, FoMOs-L and FoMOs-W). In addition, for
categorical moderate variables, in order to ensure that studies
under each subgroup can represent its characteristics, the num-
ber of effect sizes under each subgroup should be no less than 3
(Song et al., 2014).
3 Results
3.1 Literature inclusion and quality evaluation
This study included 65 studies (including 70 independent
samples, 90 effect sizes, 61893 participants), including 10 the-
ses or dissertations, 54 journal papers, 1 conference paper; 14
Chinese literature, 50 English literature, 1 Spanish literature.
The time span is 2013~2020. In this study, the average of the
literature quality evaluation score is 6, which is higher than the
theoretical mean score (i.e., 5). The literature quality score of
19 effect sizes is lower than the theoretical mean score, which
accounts for about 21% of the total effect sizes, suggesting that
the influence of such literature on the research results should be
treated with caution.
3.2 Heterogeneity test
In this study, heterogeneity test was performed to determine
the appropriateness of the random effects model and the need
for moderating effects analysis. The results showed that the Q
value was 1288.69 (p < 0.001), and the I2 value was 94.65%,
which exceeded the 75% rule proposed by Huedo-Medina et al.
(2006). The heterogeneity of the results also indicated that
94.65% of the variance in the effects on the relationship be-
tween social media use and fear of missing out was due to real
differences in effect sizes, and the random effect model was
appropriate for the following analysis. The results also sug-
gested that the difference of effect sizes among different studies
might be interfered by some characteristic factors and the mod-
erating effects analysis can be carried out.
3.3 Main effect test
The random effects model was used to estimate the 70 in-
dependent samples. The results showed that the correlation
between social media use and fear of missing out was 0.38, and
the 95% confidence interval was [0.34, 0.41], not including 0
(Figure 2). According to the latest criteria developed by Gignac
and Szodorai (2016), the strength of the correlation between
social media use and fear of missing out was more than 0.3,
suggesting a high correlation between the two. The sensitivity
analysis showed that the r value ranged from 0.367 to 0.380
after excluding any sample. According to the literature quality
score, 19 effect sizes lower than 5 score were deleted (see Table
1) and the results were re-estimated. The result showed that the
correlation between social media use and fear of missing out
was r = 0.37, p < 0.001. All the above results showed that the
stability of the meta-analysis results was high.
3.4 Moderating effect test
Meta-regression analysis was used to examine whether the
moderating variables had significant effects on the relationship
between social media use and fear of missing out. The results
showed that: (1) Gender had no significant moderating effect
on the relationship between social media use and fear of miss-
ing out. Meta-regression analysis showed that the regression
coefficient of male proportion to the effect size was not signif-
icant (b = 0.03, 95% CI [−0.22, 0.28]). (2) The moderating
effect of age on social media use and fear of missing out was
not significant. Meta-regression analysis showed that the re-
gression coefficient of mean age to the effect size was not sig-
nificant (b = −0.001, 95% CI [−0.008, 0.007]). (3) Meta-regres-
sion analysis showed that social media use indicator had sig-
nificant moderating effect on the relationship between social
media use and fear of missing out. The correlation between
social media use addiction and fear of missing out was the
highest, and the correlation between social media use frequency
and fear of missing out was the lowest. The pairwise compari-
son results showed significant difference except for the differ-
ence between intensity and duration, and the difference be-
tween duration and frequency. (4) Meta-regression analysis
found that the moderating effects of the fear of missing out
measurement on the relationship between social media use and
anxiety was not significant. (5) Meta-regression analysis
showed that social media types had significant moderating
effects on the relationship between social media use and fear of
 ZHANG Yali et al.: The relationship between social media use and fear of missing out: A meta-analysis

Figure 2. Forest plot of a meta-analysis on the relationship between social media use and fear of missing out.

missing out. Instagram use had the highest correlation with fear
of missing out, while Snapchat had the lowest correlation with
fear of missing out. The pairwise comparison found that all the
pairwise comparison differences were significant except for the
differences between Facebook and Snapchat. (6) The moderat-
ing effect of cultural background on the relationship between
social media use and fear of missing out was not significant.
Meta-regression analysis showed that the regression coefficient
of individualism index to effect size was not significant (b =
−0.001, 95% CI [−0.002, 0.001]). The results of the moderating
effects of categorical variables are shown in Table 2.
3.5 Publication bias test
Funnel plots showed that the effect sizes were concentrated
at the top of the graph and distributed evenly on both sides of
the overall effect. The result of the Egger’s regression was not
significant, and the intercept was 0.89, 95% CI [−1.40, 3.19].
The result of the trim and fill method showed that, after 11
studies were cut to the right, r was adjusted to 0.41, 95% CI
[0.38, 0.45]. The corrected effect size is slightly higher than
that before correction, but the difference between them is only
0.03, which indicates that there is no significant publication
bias in this study.
 Acta Psychologica Sinica

Table 2
Results of the moderating effects of categorical variables
Heterogeneity test 95% CI Two-tail
moderators Subgroups k r
QB df p Lower limit Upper limit z p
Social media use indicators Addiction 36 0.47 0.43 0.50 20.09 <0.001
Intensity 22 0.32 0.27 0.38 10.32 <0.001
47.41 3 < 0.001
Duration 8 0.25 0.15 0.35 4.90 <0.001
Frequency 5 0.14 0.00 0.27 1.95 0.051
Fear of missing out measures FoMOs-P 47 0.37 0.33 0.41 16.01 <0.001
1.95 2 0.376 FoMOs-L 5 0.44 0.32 0.55 6.52 <0.001
FoMOs-W 4 0.44 0.31 0.56 5.89 <0.001
Social media types Facebook 14 0.37 0.28 0.45 7.84 <0.001
6.05 2 0.048 Instagram 4 0.51 0.36 0.63 6.03 <0.001
Snapchat 3 0.28 0.08 0.46 2.69 0.007

2017). What’s more, information on social platforms is often

4 Discussion
4.1 Relationship between social media use and fear of
missing out
The relationship between social media use and mental health
has long been the focus of research. A number of recent studies
have explored the relationship between social media use and
fear of missing out, but the results were far from consistent
(Franchina et al., 2018; Gezgin, 2018; Li & Ma, 2019; Pontes
et al., 2018; Tunc-aksan & Akbay, 2019; Zhang, Li et al., 2020),
which brings the perplexity to the in-depth research in this field.
However, there is no research to clarify this. This study uses
meta-analysis to estimate the strength of the correlation for the
first time. The results show that social media use is highly cor-
related with fear of missing out. The results supported hypothe-
sis 1 and supported the social cognitive theory of mass com-
munication to a certain extent (Bandura, 2001; Valkenburg et
al., 2016). The results also showed that there is a linear correla-
tion between social media use and fear of missing out, and the
digital goldilocks hypothesis (Przybylski & Weinstein, 2017)
needs to be further tested. The study also sheds light on the
debate over the effect sizes of the association between social
media use and fear of missing out, supporting most of the cur-
rent findings (Balta et al., 2020; Liu & Ma, 2020; Reyes et al.,
2018; Yin, Wang, et al., 2019). There was no support for a
low-to-moderate correlation or even an insignificant correlation
(Bailey et al., 2018; Franchina et al., 2018; Gezgin, 2018; TRA
& öztemel, 2019), which suggested a strong link between social
media use and fear of missing out.
The results partly support the social cognitive theory of
mass communication (Bandura, 2001; Valkenburg et al., 2016),
suggesting a linear relationship between social media use and
fear of missing out. Increased use of social media tends to lead
to an increase in the level of fear of missing out. This media
effect is similar to the “weapon effect” (Berkowitz, 1989), in
that social media’s self-presentation and real-time updates in-
crease the perception of unknown events. Individuals can see
more exciting events and experiences that they haven’t engaged
in by browsing through the wealth of information that friends
and significant others have exposed on social platforms,
whichincreases the sense of exclusion within individuals
(Baker et al., 2016; Bloemen & Coninck, 2020; Buglass et al.,
highly polished and edited by users, and is often boastful and
exaggerated (Brown & Kuss, 2020). This, in turn, can make
individuals feel jealous that other people live more exciting and
meaningful lives than themselves, so they keep a high level of
attention to this kind of information, constantly worrying about
missing out on important information and great experiences
(Burnell et al., 2019). The old saying “out of sight, out of
mind”, in turn, “sight may cause annoyance”. Living in the age
of information explosion, individuals who learn about too much
information will also have inexplicable fear and worry about
the information and experiences they have missed or may have
missed, thus experiencing more fear of missing out (Basu &
Banerjee, 2020; Bloemen & de Coninck, 2020). In addition,
social media use, especially overuse, can take time away from
an individual’s offline activities, which can cause an individual
to miss out on offline participation (Alt, 2018). For example,
one study showed that 24 percent of people have missed im-
portant moments in their lives because of browsing and sharing
on social media (Shensa et al., 2020), leading to more restless-
ness and anxiety (Beyens et al., 2016; Duvenage et al., 2020).
Although the study did not directly examine the U-shaped
relationship between social media use and fear of missing out,
it was found that there was a high correlation between the two
(Gignac & Szodorai, 2016), which is higher than the average
correlation of 0.21 in social psychology studies over the past
100 years (Richardetal., 2003). The results suggested that there
was a linear correlation between social media use and fear of
missing out, and the digital goldilocks hypothesis (Przybylski
& Weinstein, 2017) needs to be further tested. In fact, there are
also controversies about this hypothesis in current research. For
example, some studies have found a quadratic relationship
between social media use and well being, people who answered
“a few times a week” were happier than those who answered
“almost daily use” and “never use” (Bruggeman et al., 2019),
but there were also studies that found no U-shaped relationship
between digital media use and depression (Houghton et al.,
2018). Future studies should examine whether this view is lim-
ited to explaining the relationship between social media use and
positive psychological variables (Houghton et al., 2018). In
addition, the correlation between social media use and fear of
missing out was 0.35, which is higher than that between social
 ZHANG Yali et al.: The relationship between social media use and fear of missing out: A meta-analysis
media use and loneliness (r = 0.11), depression (r = 0.13), and
stress in previous meta-analysis (Liu, Baumeister et al., 2019).
The result indicated that social media use is more closely re-
lated to fear of missing out than loneliness, depression, and
stress.
4.2 Analysis of moderating effects
The overall correlation between social media use and fear of
missing out derived from the macro perspective of meta- anal-
ysis is not a denial or overturn of some original studies. The
relationship between the two may be moderated by some varia-
bles:
Based on the characteristics of the paticipants. The moder-
ating effects of gender and age on the relationship between
social media use and fear of missing out were not significant.
Hypothesis 2 and hypothesis 3 were not supported, indicating
that there was a cross-gender and cross-age convergent effect in
the relationship between social media use and fear of missing
out. The results supported some empirical studies (Barry et al.,
2017; Burnell et al., 2019; Casale et al., 2018; Tomczyk &
Selmanagic–Lizde, 2018; Wegmann et al., 2017) and were
consistent with some similar meta-analyses. A meta-analysis,
for example, found that social media use was also independent
of gender and age in relation to depression and psychological
well-being (Huang, 2017; Liu, Baumeister et al., 2019; Liu et
al., 2018; Vahedi & Zannella, 2019). The result suggested that
as social media iterates and updates, its content may increas-
ingly be tailored to meet users’ individual needs, making it
equally attractive to different gender and age groups (Dempsey
et al., 2019; Zhang, Li et al., 2020). As a recent survey in the
USA showed, the age difference in the use of the mainstream
media Facebook was not significant. It was relatively common
across all age groups, which may have similar effects on indi-
viduals of different ages and genders, such as leading to fear of
missing out and depression (Liu et al., 2018; Vahedi & Zannella,
2019). However, the age groups involved in this study did not
cover children and the elderly, so it is necessary to pay attention
to the generalization of the results.
From the perspective of measurement characteristics. First
of all, social media use indicator had a significant moderating
effect on the relationship between social media use and fear of
missing out. The association between social media use addic-
tion and fear of missing out was stronger than the frequency,
duration and intensity of social media use. The results support-
ed hypothesis 4 and some empirical studies (Can & Satici, 2019;
Dempsey et al., 2019). The results were also similar to the re-
sults of meta-analyses of social media use and depression (Liu
et al., 2018; Vahedi & Zannella, 2019) and self-esteem (Saipioo
et al., 2020). The reason is that social media use is measured by
different standards. The intensity, frequency and duration of
social media use reflect an individual’s daily use habits or
non-pathological state. Social media addiction reflects a patho-
logical state of over-use and out-of-control. In such a state,
individuals not only lose a lot of time in the process of using,
but also become deeply involved in the process, and often be-
come dependent on social media, thus having a greater impact
on their mental health, accompanied by higher sense of fear of
missing out is higher (Buglass et al., 2017; Ma & Liu, 2019;
Monacis et al., 2017). Second, the relationship between social
media use and fear of missing out was not significantly moder-
ated by the fear of missing out measurement, which did not
support hypothesis 5. This may reflect the convergence of the
three measurement tools. FOMOs-L is a revision of FoMOs-P.
Although 2 items were deleted during the revision, it did not
cause significant measurement attenuation, even after exclud-
ing some inappropriate items, the correlation with the anxiety
of missing out was slightly higher than the original scale. The
FOMOs-W is an adaptation of the FOMOs-P, and although
some new items have been added, seven of the 12 items are still
focused on FOMOs-P, so the correlation between the two and
social media use is not much different.
From the perspective of media characteristics. The moder-
ating effect of social media type on the relationship between
social media use and fear of missing out was significant, and
the results supported hypothesis 6. For one thing, Instagram use
is more associated with fear of missing out than Facebook.
Both of them contain graphic content, but Facebook is a com-
prehensive social media with text-based content (de Lenne et
al., 2020). Instagram is entirely image-oriented, sharing in-
stantly captured images with each other in a fast, wonderful and
fun way, providing more immediacy, excitement and richness
of information, and individuals are more likely to yearn for it
and worry more about missing out on this novel experience
(Rozgonjuk et al., 2020; Scott & Woods, 2018). In addition,
exposure to such image information with positive bias could
lead to cognitive bias ——assumed that other people have bet-
ter physical characteristics and more colorful lives. This could
arouse the individual's more fear of missing out and a desire to
keep an eye on the dynamics of others (Wu et al., 2020). Se-
cond, Instagram use is more correlated with fear of missing out
than Snapchat. Both of them are image-oriented, but Instagram
is open and its users receive a wider range of information.
Snapchat is closed, mostly social with acquaintances, and has a
narrow range of messages (Franchina et al., 2018). Snapchat
users primarily use it to send humorous content, not personal
updates (Burnell et al., 2019), which aroused less fear of miss-
ing out than Instagram. Finally, there was no significant differ-
ence between Facebook use and Snapchat use in the correlation
with fear of missing out. This may be due to the fact that both
of them are closed (Franchina et al., 2018), which limits the
social scope and information acceptance range of individuals,
resulting in a similar psychological impact of social messages
from media acquaintances (Thorisdottir et al., 2019), therefore,
there was no significant difference between Facebook use and
Snapchat use in the correlation with the fear of missing out. It
should be noted that domestic research in this area is in its in-
fancy, and few studies have focused on the relationship be-
tween specific social media use (such as Tik Tok, Wechat, etc.)
and fear of missing out. In the future, we can make a detailed
comparison with foreign studies after the research is rich.
From the perspective of cultural characteristics. The moder-
ating effect of individualism index on the relationship between
social media use and fear of missing out was not significant and
did not support hypothesis 7, which indicated that there was a
cross-cultural convergence effect between them. Other me-
ta-analyses of the relationship between Internet use and depres-
sion or loneliness (Tokunaga, 2017), and that between social
media use and psychological well-being (Liu, Baumeister et al.,
2019) also found no cultural differences. This may be related to
the integration of global culture. Although Eastern countries
were influenced by traditional culture and had a strong collec-
tivism color, with the changes of the times, global culture
showed the decline of collective subject and the rise of indi-
 Acta Psychologica Sinica
vidualism, and the coexistence of multiculturalism. As a result,
the relationship between social media use and fear of missing
out was less influenced by coulture (Cai et al., 2018; Huang et
al., 2018). Indeed, recent studies have found that social media
use and fear of missing out were both common phenomena in
our daily life (Baker et al., 2016; Reyes et al., 2018; Traş &
Öztemel, 2019). But it is worth noting that the classification of
global culture is still controversial. Based on previous research,
this study only attempted to examine the relationship between
social media use and fear of missing out from the perspective
of individualism. Based on the open data of this study, further
cross-cultural comparative analysis can be carried out in the
future.
4.3 Implications, limitations and future directions
In this study, meta-analysis was used to explore the strength
of correlation between social media use and fear of missing out
as well as possible moderating factors. The results clarified the
controversy between the social cognitive theory of mass com-
munication and the digital goldilocks hypothesis, and provided
evidence for the further study of this topic. First, the results
found a high correlation between social media use and fear of
missing out, suggesting a strong relationship that supported the
social cognitive theory of mass communication (Bandura, 2001;
Valkenburg et al., 2016). At the same time, the results also pro-
vided information reference for Bayesian statistical analysis in
this field. Second, the study also found that social media use
indicators had an impact on the relationship between social
media use and fear of missing out. For the researchers, we can
choose the appropriate measurement indicator according to the
specific situation when we carry out the specific research in the
future, in order to examine the relationship between the two
more accurately. In addition, the study found that image-centric
and more open social media such as Instagram was more
strongly associated with fear of missing out than text-centric
and less open social media such as Facebook. Although these
social media were not popular in China, the results also had
implications for Chinese social media users. Special attention
needs to be paid to image-centric social media use, especially
to avoid overuse, which could lead to more fear of missing out.
Finally, the study found that the association between social
media use and fear of missing out was similar across gender
and age groups. This suggests that the mental health education
and social psychological service should pay attention to the
coverage of implementation, and construct a new pattern of
integrated construction of mental health education from pre-
schoolers to college students (Yu & Zhang, 2020). Proper use
of social media should be emphasized at all ages to prevent
individuals from experiencing fear of missing out that affects
their physical and mental health and quality of life.
There are several limitations of the current research. Firstly,
the tools used to measure social media usage are scattered,
which cannot meet the grouping criteria of moderating varia-
bles, this study therefore did not explore whether measurement
tools of social media use affected the relationship between the
two. Future efforts should focus on standardizing measurement
tools of social media use to better understand the relationship
between the two. Secondly, because the number of effect sizes
varies greatly among some subgroups, which may have a cer-
tain influence on the results. In the future, when the data are
abundant, we can further confirm whether the sub-group analy-
sis results of this study are robust. In addition, due to the lack
of research on specific social media in China, it was difficult to
compare and analyze different social media at home and abroad.
In the future, the open data of this study can be used for further
discussion after the domestic research is enriched. Finally, this
study only focused on the effect of social media use on fear of
missing out based on the current longitudinal and experimental
research results. However, the results of this meta-analysis can
only show that that there is a linear correlation between social
media use and fear of missing out, and can not reveal the causal
direction of the relationship between the two. More longitudi-
nal studies are needed in the future to reveal the dynamics of
the relationship between the two variables.
5 Conclusions
(1) There was a significant positive correlation between so-
cial media use and fear of missing out. Individuals with higher
levels of social media use also had higher levels of fear of
missing out, and vice versa; (2) The correlation between the
two was moderated by social media use indicators, the correla-
tion between social media use addiction and fear of missing out
is the highest, and the correlation between social media use
frequency and fear of missing out is the lowest. (3) The corre-
lation between the two is moderated by the type of social media,
compared with Snapchat and Facebook, instagram use was
more strongly correlated with fear of missing out; (4) the cor-
relation between the two was not moderated by gender, age,
fear of missing out measures and individualism index.
Acknowledgements: I would like to thank associate research-
ers Wang Jie at Taizhou Academy of Education Monitoring and
Research, Dr Hu Chuanpeng at Nanjing Normal University, Dr
Ding Fengqin at Ningxia University and Dr Teng Zhao-jun at
Southwest University for their valuable suggestions on the
revision of this paper.
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