FoMO (Fear of Missing Out) is a fairly new concept in predicting internet and mobile usage, especially in maladaptive ways. However, not many measurement instruments are around. The only existing measurement scale by Przybylski et al. (2013) is assessed and analyzed. The results show, that the scale should be improved regarding measurement qualities and validity aspect.s

1. Who is affected by FoMO (Fear of
Missing Out)?
– Measuring a new phenomenon in the
digital era –
C. Bosau & L. Aelker

2. 2
Quelle: http://www.ithinkonpaper.com/fomo/

3. 3
Quelle: http://healthmeup.com/photogallery-healthy-living/could-you-be-suffering-from-fear-of-missing-out-fomo/32443/3

4. 4
Quelle: http://www.examiner.com/article/checking-facebook-and-twitter-all-day-scientists-say-you-may-have-fomo
Quelle: http://www.buzzly.fr/jq/ckeditor/plugins/doksoft_uploader/userfiles/phubbing2.jpg
Quelle: http://www.buzzly.fr/jq/ckeditor/plugins/doksoft_uploader/userfiles/phubbing.jpeg

5. 5
Quelle: https://www.thieme.de/viamedici/mein-studienort-graz-1588/a/modulsystem-meduni-graz-19459.htm
Quelle: http://www.lto.de/recht/studium-referendariat/s/umfrage-bildungsministerium-jura-studenten-pruefungsangst/

6. 6
Quelle: http://de.engadget.com/2010/10/08/bruderle-sei-dank-ipad-im-bundestag-jetzt-erlaubt/
Quelle: http://www.abendblatt.de/politik/article2169582/Babette-loest-Email-Chaos-im-Bundestag-aus.html

7. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO?
A new phenomenon?
7
Quelle: http://www.jwtintelligence.com Quelle: http://www.jwtintelligence.com

8. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO? 8
Quelle: http://www.jwtintelligence.com
Very lately, this new phenomenon is
being discussed (JWT, 2011 & 2012;
Przybylski, Murayama, DeHaan &
Gladwell, 2013):
Fear of Missing Out (FoMO)
„the uneasy and sometimes all-
consuming feeling that you’re missing
out — that your peers are doing, in the
know about or in possession of more or
something better than you.
FoMO may be a social angst that’s
always existed, but it’s going into
overdrive thanks to real-time digital
updates and to our constant
companion, the smartphone.”
(JWT, 2011, p. 5)
A new phenomenon?

9. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO? 9
Przybylski, Murayama, DeHaan & Gladwell (2013):
• created „... items meant to reflect the fears, worries, and anxieties people may have in
relation to being in (or out of) touch with the events, experiences, and conversations
happening across their extended social circles.” (p. 1842)
• started with 32 items, an interative process of several confirmative factor analyses lead
to a one factor solution with 25 final items (χ2 (275) = 1778.1, p < .01, RMSEA = .073,
SRMR = .056).
• IRT-based analyses resulted in 10 final items:
• I fear others have more rewarding experiences than me.
• I fear my friends have more rewarding experiences than me.
• I get worried when I find out my friends are having fun without me.
• I get anxious when I don’t know what my friends are up to.
• It is important that I understand my friends ‘‘in jokes’’.
• Sometimes, I wonder if I spend too much time keeping up with what is going on.
• It bothers me when I miss an opportunity to meet up with friends.
• When I miss out on a planned get-together it bothers me.
• When I have a good time it is important for me to share the details online (e.g. updating status).
• When I go on vacation, I continue to keep tabs on what my friends are doing.
The only measurement instrument

10. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO? 10
Przybylski, Murayama, DeHaan & Gladwell (2013):
Ø FoMO increases social media engagement (r = .40, p < . 001), is negatively associated
with general mood (r = -.24, p <.001) as well as overall life satisfaction (r = -.19, p < .
001)
Results from former studies
Bosau, Aelker & Amaadachou (2014):
Ø FoMO leads to facebook addiction (β = .45, p < . 01)
Bosau & Müller (2015):
Ø FoMO increases facebook engagement (r = .39, p < . 01) and by that leads indirectly to
lower study results (facebook à study results: r = -.23, p < .05)
Bosau & Kühn (2015):
Ø FoMO is a very strong predictor of problematic mobile phone use and leads to habitual
checking behaviour (when being alone: β = .72, p < . 01 – when being in company: β = .
36, p < . 01 )

11. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO? 11
Sample:
Ø N = 100
Ø Male = 36%, Female = 64%
Ø Age: from 18 to 57, mean = 29,2, SD = 7,8
Ø 34% university degree, 44% “Abitur”, 22% lower than “Abitur”
This study
Samling strategy:
Ø Recruited via Facebook (in December 2014)
Ø 374 klicks, 193 questionnaires started, 100 complete questionnaires

12. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO?
CFA – Results – 10 items
12
Chi-Square (35) = 153.8, p < .01; CFI = .554 ; RMSEA = .184 ; SRMR = .124
FoMO
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
.87
.60
.45
.44
.42
.32
.12
.07
.31
.881. I fear others have more rewarding experiences than me.
2. I fear my friends have more rewarding experiences than me.
3. I get worried when I find out my friends are having fun without me.
4. I get anxious when I don’t know what my friends are up to.
5. It is important that I understand my friends ‘‘in jokes’’.
6. Sometimes, I wonder if I spend too much time keeping up with what is going
on.
7. It bothers me when I miss an opportunity to meet up with friends.
8. When I miss out on a planned get-together it bothers me.
9. When I have a good time it is important for me to share the details online (e.g.
updating status).
10. When I go on vacation, I continue to keep tabs on what my friends are doing.

13. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO? 13
• I fear others have more rewarding experiences than me.
• I fear my friends have more rewarding experiences than me.
• I get worried when I find out my friends are having fun without me.
• I get anxious when I don’t know what my friends are up to.
• It is important that I understand my friends ‘‘in jokes’’.
• Sometimes, I wonder if I spend too much time keeping up with
what is going on.
• It bothers me when I miss an opportunity to meet up with friends.
• When I miss out on a planned get-together it bothers me.
• When I have a good time it is important for me to share the details
online (e.g. updating status).
• When I go on vacation, I continue to keep tabs on what my friends
are doing.
Validity problems?
emo2onal
/
fear
behavioural
(“ac2ve”)
behavioural
(“passive”)
???
behavioural
emo2onal
/
mee2ng

14. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO?
CFA – Results – 8 items
14
Chi-Square (20) = 82.2, p < .01; CFI = .690 ; RMSEA = .183 ; SRMR = .119
FoMO
2
3
4
5
6
7
10
1
.88
.59
.43
.43
.41
.31
.30
.881. I fear others have more rewarding experiences than me.
2. I fear my friends have more rewarding experiences than me.
3. I get worried when I find out my friends are having fun without me.
4. I get anxious when I don’t know what my friends are up to.
5. It is important that I understand my friends ‘‘in jokes’’.
6. Sometimes, I wonder if I spend too much time keeping up with what is going
on.
7. It bothers me when I miss an opportunity to meet up with friends.
8. When I miss out on a planned get-together it bothers me.
9. When I have a good time it is important for me to share the details online (e.g.
updating status).
10. When I go on vacation, I continue to keep tabs on what my friends are doing.
Model before: Chi-Square (35) = 153.8, p < .01; CFI = .554 ; RMSEA = .184 ; SRMR = .124

15. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO?
CFA – Results – 4 items
15
Chi-Square (2) = 19.3, p < .01; CFI = .863 ; RMSEA = .294 ; SRMR = .080
FoMO
2
3
4
1
.88
.59
.43
.881. I fear others have more rewarding experiences than me.
2. I fear my friends have more rewarding experiences than me.
3. I get worried when I find out my friends are having fun without me.
4. I get anxious when I don’t know what my friends are up to.
5. It is important that I understand my friends ‘‘in jokes’’.
6. Sometimes, I wonder if I spend too much time keeping up with what is going
on.
7. It bothers me when I miss an opportunity to meet up with friends.
8. When I miss out on a planned get-together it bothers me.
9. When I have a good time it is important for me to share the details online (e.g.
updating status).
10. When I go on vacation, I continue to keep tabs on what my friends are doing.
Model before: Chi-Square (20) = 82.2, p < .01; CFI = .690 ; RMSEA = .183 ; SRMR = .119

16. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO?
Exploratory FA – Results – 10 items
16
Principal-Component-Analysis with Promax rotation; 62,2% explained variance,
factor extraction by eigenvalue
Components
1 2 3
1. I fear others have more rewarding experiences than me. .96
2. I fear my friends have more rewarding experiences than me. .96
3. I get worried when I find out my friends are having fun without me. .58
9. When I have a good time it is important for me to share the details online (e.g.
updating status).
.85
10. When I go on vacation, I continue to keep tabs on what my friends are doing. .60
4. I get anxious when I don’t know what my friends are up to. .56
6. Sometimes, I wonder if I spend too much time keeping up with what is going on. .51
5. It is important that I understand my friends ‘‘in jokes’’. .45
8. When I miss out on a planned get-together it bothers me. .97
7. It bothers me when I miss an opportunity to meet up with friends. .72

17. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO?
CFA - Summaries
17
Removing the items, that do not address the construct perfectly, lead to better fit indices
Goodness of Fit Indices (all robust MLR estimators)
Chi-
Square
df p CFI TLI AIC RMSEA SRMR
FoMO – 10 items 153.8 35 < .00 .55 .43 2903.1 .18 .12
FoMO – 8 items 87.1 20 < .00 .69 .57 2328.6 .18 .12
FoMO – 4 items 19.3 2 < .00 .86 .59 1113.7 .29 .08
FoMO – 3 items Not able to estimate, perfectly identified model (df = 0)

18. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO?
Convergent & Divergent Validity
18
Big-5 personality inventory
– short scale –
(Rammstedt, Kemper, Klein, Beierlein, & Kovaleva, 2012)
self-esteem
(Collani & Herzberg, 2003)
affiliative tendency & sensitivity to
rejection
(Mehrabian & Ksionzkys, 1974)
Scales:
self-monitoring
- Other-Directedness, Acting,
Sensitivity, Extraversion -
(Collani & Stürmer, 2014)

19. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO? 19
Correlations
FoMO – 10
(Alpha = .79)
FoMO- 8
(Alpha = .81)
FoMO – 4
(Alpha = .79)
FoMO – 3
(Alpha = .81)
Extraversion -.30*** -.33*** -.33*** -.33***
Conscientiousness -.09 -.09 -.08 -.08
Neuroticism .36*** .37*** .42*** .41***
Openness -.01 -.00 -.00 -.03
Agreeableness .04 .05 -.01 .00
Self-esteem -.41*** -.46*** -.48*** -.45***
Self-monitoring – Other-directedness .46*** .45*** .44*** .41***
Self-monitoring – Acting .21** .21** .19* .22**
Self-monitoring – Sensitivity .04 .04 .02 .02
Self-monitoring - extraversion -.53*** -.56*** -.57*** -.55***
Self-monitoring – total .11 .10 .06 .08
Affiliative tendency .13 .10 .02 .04
Sensitivity to rejection .47*** .49*** .49*** .49***
Convergent & Divergent Validity
*** p < .01, ** p < .05, * p < .10

20. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO? 20
Correlations
FoMO – 10
(Alpha = .79)
FoMO- 8
(Alpha = .81)
FoMO – 4
(Alpha = .79)
Extraversion -.30*** -.33*** -.33*** increase
Conscientiousness -.09 -.09 -.08
Neuroticism .36*** .37*** .42*** increase
Openness -.01 -.00 -.00
Agreeableness .04 .05 -.01
Self-esteem -.41*** -.46*** -.48*** increase
Self-monitoring – Other-directedness .46*** .45*** .44*** decline
Self-monitoring – Acting .21** .21** .19* decline
Self-monitoring – Sensitivity .04 .04 .02
Self-monitoring - extraversion -.53*** -.56*** -.57*** increase
Self-monitoring – total .11 .10 .06
Affiliative tendency .13 .10 .02
Sensitivity to rejection .47*** .49*** .49*** increase
Convergent & Divergent Validity
*** p < .01, ** p < .05, * p < .10

21. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO? 21
Ø The original FoMO-scale by Przybylski et al. has several flaws, since it addresses and
mixes several aspects:
Ø Emotional ratings (even regarding several different aspects)
Ø Behavioural ratings (even more “active” vs. “passive” behaviour)
Ø Other ratings
Ø Removing the items, that do not address the construct perfectly, lead to better fit indices.
Ø Based on the Przybylski et al. items: a 4-item-solution shows the best fit
Ø Convergent and divergent validity indices improve likewise with the 4 item-solution.
Conclusion
Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is an interesting construct that
could possibly explain a lot in online & social network
research.
However, we need better scales that define and measure the
construct more precisely.

22. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO? 22
• Bosau C., Aelker, L. & Amaadachou, H. (2014). Ich darf nichts verpassen! – Kann “Fear of Missing Out (FoMO)” Suchtverhalten in
Facebook erklären? 49. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie in Bochum.
• Bosau C., Kühn, M. (2015). Phubbing because of FoMO? – Fear of Missing Out as a predictor for problematic mobile phone use.
17th General Online Research Conference in Cologne.
• Bosau C., Müller, P. (2015). FoMO (Fear of Missing Out) beeinträchtig Studienerfolg. Warum man in einer Lehrveranstaltung sein
Smartphone lieber ausschalten sollte. 19. Fachtagung der Gesellschaft für angewandte Wirtschaftspsychologie (GWPs) in Heide.
• Collani, G., von, & Stürmer, S. (2014). Deutsche Skala zur Operationalisierung des Konstrukts Selbstüberwachung (Self-
Monitoring) und seiner Facetten. In D. Danner & A. Glöckner-Rist (Eds.), Zusammenstellung sozialwissenschaftlicher Items und
Skalen. doi: 10.6102/zis50
• Collani, G., von, & Herzberg, P.Y. (2003). Eine revidierte Fassung der deutschsprachigen Skala zum Selbstwertgefühl von
Rosenberg. Zeitschrift für Differentielle und Diagnostische Psychologie, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 3-7.
• JWT (2011). Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), May 2011. Retrieved from: http://www.jwtintelligence.com/production/
FOMO_JWT_TrendReport_May2011.pdf [01.09.2012].
• JWT (2012). Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), March 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.jwtintelligence.com/wp-content/uploads/
2012/03/F _JWT_FOMO- update_3.21.12.pdf [01.09.2012].
• Mehrabian, A. & Ksionzky, S. (1974): A theory of affiliation. Lexington, MA, USA: Heath.
• Przybylski, A.K., Murayama, K., DeHaan, C.R. & Gladwell, V. (2013). Motivational, emotional, and behavioural correlates of fear of
missing out. Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 29, pp. 1841-1848.
• Rammstedt, B., J. Kemper, B.C., Klein, M.C., Beierlein, C. & Kovaleva, A. (2012). Eine kurze Skala zur Messung der fünf
Dimensionen der Persönlichkeit: Big-Five-Inventory-10 (BFI-10). GESIS-Working Papers 2012|22
Literature

23. ECPA 2015Bosau & Aelker: Who is affected by FoMO? 23
Thanks for your attention
Contact details:
Rheinische Fachhochschule Köln
Prof. Dr. Christian Bosau, Dipl.-Psych. & Master of HRM & IR
Schaevenstraße 1a/b
50676 Cologne / Germany
Tel.: +49 221 20302-0
e-mail: christian.bosau@rfh-koeln.de
Slideshare: cbosau
Twitter: cribocologne